Scandal
by cupcakeaddict100
Summary: Jade had made a good life in New York City. She was happy. But when she comes back to Los Angeles, she's forced to face her past and try to keep her secrets hidden a little better. Even if that secret is a baby. Bade, slight Bori.
1. Chapter 1

I'd just like to make some things known really quick. This is a Bade story, but there will be some Bori in the beginning. Bear with me, please. Bade will come. Enjoy :)

* * *

Jade West walked through LAX, searching for her bubbly, red headed friend who was supposed to pick her up. She was still trying to figure out why she was relying so much on Cat, considering she could be very spacy and ditzy at times, but here she was. Once she got to her mother's house, she was going to do some serious life evaluating.

"Jadey!" Jade heard a high-pitched squeal coming from the left of her. She turned her head and saw Cat and Robbie standing next to a row of seats. Cat was waving her arms frantically in hopes of getting the brunette's attention. "Jade!"

Jade pushed past the tons of people in the airport and made her way over to her friends. "Hi, Cat." She gently pulled Cat into a hug. She did the same for Robbie. "Hi, Robbie."

Cat's eyes lit up. "Is this her?"

Jade looked down at the baby she was cradling in her arms. She had a baby blanket draped over her. "Yes, Bianca Olivia West."

"Can I see her?" Cat asked, reaching out to move the blanket.

Jade gently shook her head. "Maybe later, Cat. It was a very long, exhausting flight. I just got her to go to sleep and I really want to get out of here before the noise wakes her up."

"Okay. Let's go guys. Robbie, grab Jade's luggage."

Robbie grabbed Jade's suitcases while Cat gently pulled Jade towards the exit. "I'm so happy that you're here! This is going to be so much fun."

"Like I would miss your wedding. I am the maid-of-honor right?"

"So we have a lot to catch up on. You're a mommy now! How's New York? How is writing?"

Jade smiled. She had truly missed her friend.

* * *

"We are going to have such a busy week!" Tori Vega exclaimed, walking into her bedroom, iPad in hand. "Your interview with Good Day L.A. is tomorrow morning, your premiere is tomorrow evening. Cat wants us all to go to Nozu tonight. Plus, I need to start recording for my new album next week. I need my manager to schedule me time to breathe."

Beck looked up from his cell phone. "Well, we have time to relax right now." He patted the spot on the bed next to him. "Come sit with me."

Tori walked over to her bed and sat. "I am so glad Cat and Robbie's wedding is right around the corner. That'll be a nice distraction."

Beck nodded in agreement. He lifted up Tori's left hand and lightly traced the diamond ring sitting on her finger. "Then it will be our turn to get married."

Tori groaned, "Don't talk about it. I don't want to think about all of the planning that goes into a wedding. We should just run off the Vegas, or Reno and elope."

"Trina wouldn't like that very much." Beck pointed out, kissing Tori's hand.

"It's not Trina's wedding. It's ours."

"I don't think she cares."

"You're right about that."

"Let's not think about our wedding right now. We have to get through Cat and Robbie's, and I don't want to think about that either. Let's just enjoy today. Enjoy the fact that we're going to be hanging out our friends later on."

"Must you be so wise and perfect, Beck Oliver?"

Beck grinned, "Yes. Yes, I must."

* * *

"Jadelyn!" Jade's mother, Karen West, greeted warmly, seeing her daughter and granddaughter enter her house. She immediately hugged her. "I have missed you so much."

"Hi mom." Jade pulled out of her mother embrace and sat Bianca's car seat down.

Karen's eye's landed on Bianca. "Aww, my precious little angel." Bianca was now wide awake and looking around the strange room. Karen unbuckled Bianca and gently lifted her out of the car seat. "Hi! Do you remember your grandma? Do you remember me, my sweetheart?"

"I doubt it. She has only seen you a few times and that was when she was only a few days old."

Karen walked over to a chair and sat down. She stared into the baby's big brown eyes. Those she definitely didn't get from Jade, whose eyes were a sharp blue-green color.

She didn't know who Bianca's father was. Jade never uttered a word about him, and she had no intentions on doing so it seemed like. It initially worried her when she found out her 23 year old daughter was going to be a single mother, so far away from friends and family, but she was doing well. She was fiercely independent. Bianca was a happy baby, and Jade loved New York.

"Jade, I don't mean to pry-"

"Then don't even start, mother." Jade cut in, sitting down across from her mom.

"Do you think it's right that Bianca is growing up without her father?" Karen asked, ignoring her daughter.

"Yes. Bianca and I are fine."

"A young girl needs her father, Jadelyn." Karen continued.

"My father was pretty crappy, but I survived, and so will Bianca."

"So you want her to be fatherless because Richard chose his secretary and her stupid little dog over us? That is very selfish."

"Look, her father has his own life. He's happy, he's successful, and he does not need a 6 month old baby popping into the picture and complicating his perfect little life. Now, if you're going to judge how I choose to raise my daughter, please keep your comments to yourself or tell someone else because I am not interested." Jade looked up her mother who looked a bit hurt. Her eyes softened a bit. "I'm sorry I snapped."

"Apology accepted. So how is your writing coming along?"

"Good, actually."

"My heart burst with maternal pride knowing that my daughter's screenplay got nominated for an Academy Award."

"Glad I can make you proud."

Jade yawned, "I've been up all day. My flight was delayed twice and Bianca was up crying during most of it. I'm exhausted."

"Go upstairs and rest, Jade. I'll take care of Bianca for a few hours."

Jade smiled, "Thanks mom."

* * *

Jade walked into Nozu and instantly spotted Mrs. Lee. She was barking orders at one of her employees in her obnoxious tone of voice. Great, that is exactly what Jade needed at the moment.

"Hello, how may I-oh, it's you." Mrs. Lee said. "You're the girl that left my daughter to dangle in the air."

Jade glared at Mrs. Lee. "You're the one who gave birth to that tone-deaf, talentless piece of-"

"Jade?"

Jade turned around and her eyes landed on Beck. She froze. "Beck."

Beck stared at Jade intently. She had changed. Her hair was lighter, and longer than from the last time he saw her. There were no more colored streaks in her hair. All of her pieces of face jewelry were gone. It looked like she had gained weight, and her skin was a bit paler than before. Despite the differences, she was still Jade. She still wore black, he could still see her star tattoo on her arm. She looked gorgeous.

"What are you doing out here?" Beck asked, his eyes still never leaving Jade's. "Robbie said you still live in New York."

"It's not like I could miss Cat's wedding. I am the maid-of-honor, after all."

"Really? I didn't know that."

"Why would you?"

"I don't know. I just assumed that Cat would have said something."

"When you assume, you make-"

Jade was cut off when she saw Tori walking over to them. She grabbed a hold of Beck's hand. Jade was able to get a glimpse of the huge diamond ring sitting on her finger. Tori turned to Jade. "Jade? Oh my goodness, what are you doing out here?" She let go of Beck's hand and ran to hug Jade.

Jade struggled to get out of Tori's grip. After a while she just pushed Tori off of her. "God, Vega. Way to invade my personal space."

"Sorry. We haven't seen you in over a year! How are you? How's New York?"

"I'm fine. New York is fine."

"Jade is out here for Cat and Robbie's wedding." Beck explained, focusing his attention back onto Jade.

"If a wedding is all it took, Beck and I would've gotten married sooner."

Jade was about to reply with some very witty, possibly very insulting words when Andre popped out. "Guys, our table is ready."

"Great! I have had such a craving for a spicy tuna roll." Tori followed behind Andre. Beck and Jade followed, too.

"Yay, Jade I'm glad you could make it." Cat said, clapping. She scooted over. "Sit next to me."

Jade sat down, and the rest of the dinner party followed suit. Beck sat down directly across from her.

Tori turned her attention to Cat. "Cat, you didn't tell us that Jade was coming back into town."

"She kept me waiting until last night, actually. I didn't think she was going to be able to make it with all of her writing and the baby-"

"Baby?" Tori repeated. "Jade, you have a baby?"

In that moment, Jade wished she could disappear. Everyone was staring at her.

Jade cleared her throat, "Uh, yeah."

"When did you have a kid?"

"Six months ago." Jade answered.

"Show them a picture, Jade." Cat ordered, lightly nudging her friend.

Jade shook her head. "No."

"Come on Jade." Andre insisted. "Show us a picture."

Jade glared at Andre. If she could kill him right now, she would. "Fine." She reached for her phone so she could find a good picture of Bianca. "Her name is Bianca." She handed the phone to Tori.

Tori smiled, "She's gorgeous, Jade. Absolutely gorgeous." Tori showed Beck the picture. "Beck, look at her."

Beck had to admit, she was a beautiful little girl. She had Jade's nose and natural hair color. They didn't share the same skin tone, though. Bianca had more of a olive skin tone whereas Jade was a paler. The baby was sleeping, so Beck couldn't see what color her eyes were, but he was willing to bet that they were blue-green just like Jade's.

He passed the phone back to Jade, and while Jade's arm was extended, he noticed that she wasn't wearing a ring. Maybe she was single. Maybe she had a boyfriend, and they weren't ready to get married yet.

"She's beautiful, Jade."

Jade ran a shaky hand through her hair. That was close. "Thank you." She stood up and slid out of the booth. "I'm going to go the restroom."

Jade walked out of the dining area and down the long hall heading towards the bathroom. Before she could reach the door, she felt a hand grab onto her shoulder and spin her around.

"Andre, what the hell are you doing?"

Andre took a step closer to Jade. She took a step back. "Jade, don't you think 15 months is long enough?"

"I don't understand-"

"When are you going to tell him?"

Jade cocked her head to the side. "Tell who, what?"

"Don't insult my intelligence by playing stupid. When are you going to tell Beck that he has a daughter?" Andre questioned.

Jade put her hand on her chin. "Oh, um never."

"You can't keep Bianca away from him."

"I can and I will." Jade punched Andre's shoulder. "And what the hell were you thinking, forcing me to show them a picture of Bianca? Are you trying to out me?"

"He needs to know the truth, Jade."

"He's happy. He and Vega can go run off together, get married, and make pretty little babies all while winning Oscars and Grammys. Bianca and I are fine. Our life is fine. Now can you just be my friend and respect my decision?"

Andre sighed. He hated that he was in the middle of this mess. "Yes, but don't think for a second that you will be able to pull this off for the rest of Bianca's life. He'll start putting puzzle pieces together. She might even start looking a lot more like him. And you might be content for now, but Bianca will grow up and wonder why she's the only kid who doesn't have a father to make a card for on Father's Day. Get your shit together, West."

Jade shook her head and put buried her face in her hands. She couldn't wait to get back to New York, but first, she'd have to get the hell out of this restaurant.


	2. Chapter 2

Jade stared at Bianca in amusement. She was rolling around on the bed, happily. Bianca seemed to adjust well to being in California. She loved being around her grandmother, and when Jade got home from Nozu the night before, her brother, Tyler was at home waiting for her. He and Bianca hit it off instantly.

What Andre said was really sticking with her. He wanted Beck to know the truth, but it wasn't his decision to make. Jade didn't want Beck to know. She didn't want her daughter to be subjected to the media, or paparazzi. And Beck had his perfect little life. He was in love with Tori, and they were going to have their own little family.

Jade reached out and picked Bianca up. "We're doing okay, bud. I'm a good mommy, right B?" Bianca smiled and reached out to touch Jade's face. "Thank you, baby girl. I needed that."

Bianca's eyes landed on a stuffed bear sitting on the night stand. She tried to reach it.

Jade's eyes followed Bianca's. She picked up the bear. "You want this?" Bianca started speaking in her own baby language and flailing her arms around, excitedly. "Okay, okay, Miss Impatient." She sat the bear down in front of Bianca, who instantly attacked it with her mouth.

There was a knock on the bedroom door. "Come in."

Jade's brother, Tyler walked in. "Hi Jade."

"Hey."

Tyler sat down on the bed and kissed Bianca's head. "Hi to you too."

"Tyler, how are you? How is UCLA?"

"UCLA is great, actually. I love my classes."

"That's good to hear."

"How was Nozu last night? I bet you enjoyed spending time with Cat."

"Beck was there." Jade said.

"Oh."

"Tori was there, too. Hanging on his arm."

"Your ex and his fiancé, who once said that she would never date Beck because she would never want to hurt you because you were her friend?"

Jade nodded, "Crazy how things turn out, huh?"

"Really crazy. Seeing them couldn't have been that bad though, right? You moved on from him." Tyler pointed to Bianca, who was still eating her bear, oblivious to the conversation. "You wouldn't have her if you didn't."

Jade shook her head. "Ty, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"This goes to the grave, Ty. Promise me you won't say a word."

"I won't say a word."

Jade spit in the palm of her hand and held it out. "Spit shake."

Tyler cringed, "Jade-"

"Come on, we're siblings! We used to do this all the time."

"When we were children. You're 25. I'm 21. We are adults!"

"So?"

Tyler reluctantly spit in his hand and shook Jade's. He instantly pulled back and wiped his hand on his pants. "Now what is so important to warrant a spit shake?"

"Bianca's father."

"What about him? First of all, who is he?"

"It's Beck."

Tyler's eyes widened. Then, he chuckled. "Yeah right."

"I'm serious."

"But Beck is with Tori. Are you telling me that he cheated on her with you?"

"It was at Andre's party at the Ritz. I got really drunk, so did Beck. Andre got a few spare rooms in case anyone got too drunk to go home, so I took Beck to his room. He started saying how beautiful I was, how much he missed me, how much he loved me. And I fell for it. You can imagine what happened next."

Tyler cringed, "Yes, please, spare me the details."

"I woke up the next morning, Beck was nowhere to be found. He ignored my calls, and texts, so I just went back to New York. A few days later, I see him and Tori on television, as if what happened, didn't happen. I felt so stupid, and foolish, like I was still that insecure girl who just gave in to Beck. Then a month later, I found out I was pregnant."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"No."

"No?"

"No." Jade repeated. "He's with Tori. And Bianca doesn't need to be in the middle of a Hollywood cheating scandal. I don't want paparazzi attacking my daughter. I don't want to be painted as the homewrecker."

"Jade-"

"What if Beck files for full custody?" Jade asked, fear clearly evident in her voice and eyes. "What if he wins, and he and Tori raise my child? He's successful, he's likable, he's in a committed relationship. I'll just be the homewrecker."

Tyler grabbed his sister's shoulders. "Breathe."

Jade shook her head. "I can't."

"Well, if you couldn't, you'd be dead right now. Now Jadelyn Aria West, breathe. Or you're going to have a panic attack." Jade took a deep breath. "Beck wouldn't try to take Bianca away from you."

"You don't know that."

"Beck's a nice guy."

"You've never seen Beck get angry before, and when he's angry, he's angry. What if he gets so upset with me that he tries to take her away to punish me?"

"Stop it. That isn't going to happen."

"His family doesn't like me, so I'm sure they'd support anything that's against me. And what about his fiancé? What if she treats my daughter like the red headed stepchild because she's a constant reminder of Beck's infidelity?"

"He isn't going to do that, and I doubt Tori will be mean to that innocent little baby. I mean Bianca is eating a Teddy bear, being incredibly adorable."

"You don't know a woman scorned, Ty."

"I think you should tell Beck, because he at least deserves a chance to prove what kind of father he can be. You and I know what it's like to have a crappy father and Bianca shouldn't grow up thinking her father didn't want her. But, you're my sister, and I will do whatever you need me to."

Jade gave Tyler a sad smile. "Thank you."

"No problem. Think about it, okay?"

"I'll try."

* * *

"You like bananas, don't you?" Karen asked, feeding Bianca a tiny spoonful of mashed bananas. "You like these, sweetheart?"

Bianca smiled and put her hand in the bowl. She held it out to Karen, as if to offer her some of the bananas. Karen shook her head.

"Grandma doesn't want any right now."

Jade entered the kitchen. She looked at Bianca. "What are you doing?"

"Bianca is eating. She loves bananas."

"I know. I've been feeding them to her for a few weeks now. We've also been eating baby cereal, which she likes."

"When you were a baby you loved to eat mashed potatoes. If your father and I decided to give you that all day, every day, you could have eaten it."

"Really?"

Karen nodded. "Yes, you loved them, unless you were in a bad mood and decided to refuse anything we gave you."

Jade smiled, "Yeah, that sounds like me."

Karen wiped Bianca's mouth off with a napkin and picked her up. She turned to Jade. "You want your mommy?"

Bianca reached her arms out as Jade grabbed her. "Yes, she always wants her mommy."

Karen stood up. "I need to go lay down for a while."

"You okay, mom?"

"I have a bit of a headache. I need to nap for a few hours."

"Alright." Jade watched her mom leave the kitchen and head up the stairs. "Take some Advil."

Karen stomped up the stairs, similar to what Jade used to do in her teen, pre-motherhood years. "Yes Mom!"

Jade rolled her eyes. "You see where mommy gets her flare for dramatics? She gets it from grandma."

Jade's phone rang. She put Bianca in her playpen and dug her phone out of her pocket.

"Hello?"

"Jade?"

"Yes, this is Jade."

"Hi, it's me! Tori."

"Tori. Hi. Why are you calling me?"

"Beck's movie premiere is tonight and the entire gang is coming. You want to come?"

Jade shook her head. "Oh no, I can't."

"What? Why not?"

"I have no one to watch Bianca. My brother is out with his friends, and my mom isn't feeling well."

"My mom could do it."

"Your mom?" Holly Vega was not someone Jade would willingly pick to watch her daughter. She could be a total airhead at times, especially when she started talking to some guy named Gary. Bianca could be choking and Holly wouldn't notice because she was too busy flirting. The thought sent fear throughout Jade's entire body.

"Yeah. She's raised two kids before. I'm sure baby Bianca will be just fine."

"I don't have anything to wear."

"My stylist is coming over to my house later. She's going to bring at least 10 dresses, so you can pick one of those. Jade, you aren't getting out of this."

"Tori-"

"If I have to go to your mother's house and drag you out of there myself, I will."

Jade rolled her eyes at the thought of Tori trying to physically drag her anywhere. What a joke. "Fine, Vega. I will come. When do you want me?"

"Well the premiere is at 7, so can you come over to my house after you drop Bianca off at my parent's."

"Alright. See you then.

"Yay! See you soon, Jade!"

Jade hung up and the phone, and turned to Bianca, who was playing with her feet. "What did mommy get herself into?" Bianca giggled. "This isn't funny."

* * *

Jade was completely caught off guard by the amount of cameras flashing in her face. Sure, she's been in front of the camera before, she's been in front of tons of people before, but this was different. It seemed like everyone in Southern California showed to the premiere of Beck's movie, Ringer. Maybe even some of Northern California, too.

Tori tugged on Jade's hand. "Jade come on."

"Am I supposed to be doing something right now?"

"Just answer questions, and smile at the camera. You know how these things work."

"I'm the one who usually writes the movies. I don't star in them."

"It's easy. Oh look, I see Beck!"

Jade followed Tori's finger and her eyes landed on Beck. He was busy talking to a reporter. Tori pulled Jade towards him.

"And here is your leading lady in real life, the lovely Miss Tori Vega." A female reporter said, kindly shaking Tori's hand. "So tell us, Tori, how proud are you of your fiancé?"

Tori smiled,"I'm so proud. He's been so focused on this movie and it really paid off. I think he did an amazing job."

The reporter turned to Jade. "Ah, we the talented Jade West with us. What brings you here, Jade?"

"I'm friends with Tori and Beck. We all went to high school together." Jade explained. She left out the part where she and Beck dated for three and a half years and conceived a child together. She didn't think it'd be too appropriate.

"And how do you feel about Beck?"

Jade thought it was a very tricky question. "Just like Tori is, I'm very proud. Beck has always been extremely talented, and I've always known that he was destined for greatness. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the world noticed."

Beck stared at Jade. He was shocked that she was even there, and even saying extremely kind words about him. She was extremely tense with him the night before at Nozu, like he was the last person she wanted to be around.

Beck looked away, coyly. "Oh stop, I'm blushing."

Jade scanned the crowd and spotted Cat, Robbie and Andre stepping out of a limo. Great. "Well, I'll leave you guys here."

"Alright."

Jade walked away, quickly releasing a breath she didn't even know she was holding in. She couldn't stay around those two an longer.

"Jade!" Cat exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her best friend. "You made it!"

"Yeah, Tori didn't leave me much of a choice. It was either come here, or come here."

"It's great, the six of us all hanging out again." Cat said. "It hasn't been the same without you, Jade. I really wish you wouldn't leave right after our wedding."

"Yeah, Jade, you should stay." Andre chimed in. "We all need some catching up time."

Jade shot Andre a harsh look, but it didn't phase him. Besides Beck, and Tyler, Andre was the only person who could really hold his own against her and go toe-to-toe with her. And it really pissed her off at times.

"No. I really need to get back to New York. My writing-"

"You can write from any place in the world." Andre said.

"Yeah. And I'm your best friend and I haven't even seen your baby, except for when she was sleeping in my car. You don't see anything wrong with that? I need some serious Cat and Bianca time."

Andre wrapped his arm around Jade, squeezing her shoulder. "You've been gone for over a year Jade. We want you back." Jade pulled Andre's arm off of her, not before she pinched him, though. He winced.

"Stay, Jade. Please?" Cat begged. "You know I'm a very good at begging and pleading."

Jade looked over to where Tori and Beck were standing. Beck must have felt her gaze because he looked over at her and smiled. She quickly focused her gaze back on Cat.

"I'll think about it."

Cat squealed, "Yay, more Jade and Cat bonding time."

* * *

"So what did you think of the movie?" Beck asked, walking up to Jade who had just exited the theater.

Jade looked up from her cell phone. Beck was looking at her, nervously. It was nice to know that he still valued her opinion.

"I liked it." Jade answered, honestly.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It wasn't cliché, or predictable, the acting was good, and so was the writing."

Beck smiled, teasingly. "Think you could've wrote something better?"

"Of course I do. But that's just my opinion."

"There's going to be a party in downtown Hollywood. Want to come?"

Jade shook her head. "I think I better get home."

"What? Jade you can't go." Tori said, walking up behind Beck. "We're all hanging out tonight."

"No, I'm tired. And Bianca is going to be really upset when she realizes I'm not around her. No offense, but your mother is a stranger and I think four hours away from me is enough."

It was still shocking to know that Jade was a mom. It shocked Beck even more that she was so...maternal. Missing a party so she could be with her child was not something Beck expected her to do.

Tori frowned, "Okay, I get it. You're a mom now."

"Tori, I'm gonna walk Jade to the limo."

"Alright. I'll see you back here in a few."

Beck put his hand on the small of Jade's back and led her to the black stretch limo parked in front of the theater. Jade tensed up, feeling his hand, but she relaxed a bit. Just a bit. It felt awkward touching him.

"Thank you for coming." Beck said, stopping at the limo.

"You're welcome. It was a good movie."

Beck knocked on the driver seat window and the limo driver rolled the window down. "Take Jade where ever she needs to go. You don't need to come back afterwards."

"Yes, Mr. Oliver."

Beck walked back to Jade. "Well I guess I'll see you soon."

"Yeah."

Beck pulled Jade into a hug. Jade tensed up again. He was getting way too touchy-feely with her. Jade's arms where just hanging at her sides for a while, but eventually she gave Beck a nice pat on the back.

"Goodnight Jade."

"Goodnight."

Beck opened up the limo door for Jade and slid in. "Hey, call Cat or Tori or somebody to let us know that you got home safely."

"I can take care of myself, Oliver."

"Sorry." Beck closed the door.

He watched the limo drive off into the street, not tearing his eyes away. He felt a hand slip into his. Tori was standing next to him, smiling.

"Hey, you ready to go? You are the guest-of honor, after all."

"Yeah."

Tori put her head on Beck's shoulder and they started walking back to a different limo.

* * *

Jade was extremely glad to be back home, in bed. It's not that she didn't have a good time, but she just wanted to be home with her daughter. Besides, the premiere had a lot of awkward moments that Jade wished she didn't have to deal with again.

Bianca was tightly cradled in her arm, trying to fight her sleep as if anything interesting was happening. She hated being left out of things.

Jade was thinking about Cat and Andre. Once again, Andre was a little master manipulator, pulling the strings and putting Jade in a tight position. It wasn't fair, but if had done it to anyone else, she would've been proud.

She looked down at Bianca. "How would you like to stay out here for a little while longer, bud?" Bianca smiled. "You would like it?"

Jade kissed Bianca's soft head. "I guess we could stay out here for a _little_ bit longer. Just a bit."

Andre _so_ owed her.

* * *

Yay happy Friday everyone. Big hugs and kisses to all of you reviewers, and subscribers. You're amazing, dolls! Quick question: How do you guys want Beck to find out about Bianca? I'm confused and I need suggestions. Read and review


	3. Chapter 3

"Bianca, you don't want to go to sleep?" Jade asked, exhaustion laced through her tone. "You have to go to sleep, baby girl. I have to go to sleep, too. Mommy is really tired."

Jade was currently walking back and forth, gently rubbing Bianca's back, trying to soothe her. It wasn't helping. Bianca's face was buried in the crook of Jade's neck, crying hysterically.

Jade didn't really know what to do. Bianca was such a happy baby. She only cried when she was hungry, and even then, it was rare. Now out of the blue she was crying her eyes out at three in the morning.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Mommy's gonna buy you a mockingbird." Jade sang. When Jade sang, it usually put a smile on Bianca's face. "And if that mockingbird don't sing, Mommy's gonna buy you a diamond ring."

Jade sat down on the bed and put Bianca down in front of her. Bianca was staring up at her intently with her big eyes.

"And if that diamond ring turns to brass, Mommy's gonna buy you a looking glass. And if that looking glass gets broke, Mommy's gonna buy you a Billy goat."

Bianca's eyelids were getting heavier, and she finally stopped crying. Jade gently patted Bianca's chest.

The bedroom door opened and Karen walked in, her robe loosely tied to her body. "Jade is everything okay? The baby is-"

Jade put a finger to her lips and pointed to Bianca. "I just her to calm down." She whispered.

Karen nodded, "Oh alright. Is she okay?"

"I think she's just fussy."

"Okay. G'night sweetheart."

"Night."

Karen quietly left the room, gently closing the door behind her.

Jade looked back at Bianca, who was now sleeping. She sighed in content. She was absolutely exhausted. It was times like this that she wished she had someone to help her. Someone like Beck.

Jade instantly shook the thought out of her head. She didn't need Beck.

* * *

"We really need to broaden our horizon when it comes to restaurant choices." Beck said, looking at his Nozu menu. "We eat here a lot."

"I'll never get tired of Nozu." Tori replied. "I love sushi, and I love this place, despite Mrs. Lee."

"I think Mrs. Lee has calmed down a bit now that we've become so successful."

Tori took a sip of her water, "Except towards Jade and I. She still hates us for dangling her talentless daughter."

"Yeah, Jade was going to give that lady a piece of her mind, but I cut her off the other day. Thank goodness because that would not have been a pretty sight."

"Thank you."

"Hey, why isn't Jade here?" Andre asked. "Did anyone invite her?"

Cat nodded, "I called her earlier and asked of she wanted to come, but she said that she couldn't. She said that the baby was up last night, and she was exhausted."

Tori frowned, "Poor Jade. She's taking care of the baby all by herself."

"Cat, does Jade have a boyfriend or anything?" Beck questioned. He didn't notice Tori's subtle glare at him for such a blunt question.

"Why are you asking me?" Cat shot back.

"Because you and Jade are best friends." Beck explained.

"If she has a boyfriend, or a husband, I know nothing about him. Jade hasn't uttered a word. But I think she's single. Why do you ask?"

"Yeah." Tori agreed. "Why the sudden curiosity?"

Beck shrugged, "Well Jade comes back into town with a baby, so I just wanted to know if she had a boyfriend or a husband."

Cat shook her head, "I'm just as lost as you are, Beck. I don't even know who Bianca's father is. Jade just said she was pregnant, and I didn't ask any questions." She turned to Andre, who was sitting next to her. "Do you know anything?"

Andre nearly choked on his water, "Me? W...why would I know anything?"

"Because Jade tells you everything." Cat said. "You're her best guy friend. Maybe you know something I don't know."

"I don't know anything." Andre insisted, even though he was lying.

"She hasn't said anything to you?"

"I don't know anything!" Andre repeated. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you guys."

"Why not?"

"It's not my business. I'm not Jade. If she doesn't want anyone to know who Bianca's father is, we should just respect that, and stop talking about it."

"But-"

"Next subject, please!" Andre said, cutting Tori off for the second time.

Tori closed her mouth. She had a feeling that Andre knew more than he was willing to let on, but she decided to drop the subject...for now.

Cat, picking up on the rising tension at the table, decided to move on to a new subject. "So who wants to split a plate of California rolls with me?"

* * *

Tori was aimlessly looking around Andre's studio, trying to find something to hold her attention. Nothing was. Andre had stepped out to take a phone call, leaving Tori all alone.

She was curious as to why Andre was acting so wonky at Nozu earlier. He knew more than he let on, and she wanted to find out what it was.

"Okay, I have a lot of work to do, Tori." Andre said, returning to the studio.

"I know."

"Are you sure you want to stay here and watch me write songs?"

"I actually want to talk to you."

Andre grabbed his notepad and pen, "About what?"

"What happened at lunch today?" Tori asked.

"What do you mean, Tor?"

"You were so...weird and jumpy earlier today. What was that all about?"

Andre rubbed his forehead. He could already tell this conversation was about to give him a headache. "I didn't even notice."

"You wanna know what I think?"

"Even if I don't want to know, I have a feeling that you will tell me anyway."

"I think that you know something about Jade and Bianca's father." Tori replied. "And you are just pretending to be clueless."

Andre sighed, "Look-"

"Do you know who he is or not? It's just a yes or no question."

"Yeah, I know who he is."

"Great! Now who is he? Do I know him? Is he in New York?"

"I can't say."

Tori groaned, "Come on Andre. You can tell me who it is. We've been friends for 9 years, since we were 16. Doesn't that mean anything to you, Andre?"

"I've been friends with Jade since we were 10."

"Yeah, but when has she ever been friendly to you? She's always putting you down."

"No she's always putting you down. Jade and I are fine."

"Why must you be so difficult?"

"Tori it's none of your business!" Andre snapped. "If you keep digging for information, you might not like what you find out."

Tori's eyes widened and she was stunned into silence. Andre was never forceful, and he never yelled at her. And to think it was over Jade West.

"Fine. I won't bring it up anymore."

"Thank you." Andre's phone rang from across the studio. "Can you please hand me my phone."

Tori grabbed Andre's phone and looked at the screen, "It's Jade." She tossed it to Andre.

"Hey Jade." Andre greeted after he answered. "We missed you at lunch-wait Jade, why are you crying? Wait, what? Oh no...yeah, I'm on my way...I'll see you soon." He hung up and grabbed his coat off of his chair.

"What's wrong?" Tori asked. She wasn't able to make out anything Jade said because she was so hysterical. "Is Jade okay?"

"No. Jade had to take the baby to the hospital. I have to go see her."

"Wait, I'm coming too!"

* * *

When Beck got to the hospital, he did expect to see the entire gang. What he did not expect was to see Jade, a sobbing mess, in the waiting room.

Jade was sitting in a seat, her mother's arms wrapped around her, trying to comfort her.

"Hey." Beck greeted when he walked over to the rest of the gang. "What's wrong?"

"Bianca has a fever of 103 degrees. Jade said she wouldn't stop crying, and her breathing was short. The doctors say that she has pneumonia." Karen explained, taking her arms off of her daughter. Jade was in no position to do any talking.

"Where is she now?" Beck asked.

Karen sighed, "With the doctors. Bianca isn't coming home until tomorrow at least. Her fever needs to break."

Beck sat down next to Jade and grabbed her hand, making circles on her skin with his thumb, soothingly. Jade was too distraught to pull her hand away and slap him or something. Tori looked at the two and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked away.

"Hey, Bianca is going to be okay." Beck said, his voice calm and even.

"4 million people die from pneumonia every year, Beck. Don't tell me to calm down! You calm down."

Beck sighed. It was obvious that he wasn't going to get through to Jade at the moment. Instead, he just kept rubbing her hand.

Tori sat down and tried not to read too much into what Beck was doing. They were all adults. Beck was just comforting his friend. A friend just so happened to be his long-term girlfriend at one point and who he loved very much. Tori sighed. Now, she could see why Jade was _always_ so jealous all the time.

* * *

"When you wake up, mommy is going to be right here waiting for you to open up your pretty eyes." Jade whispered, gently stroking Bianca's hand. "And you are going to feel so much better."

Bianca was now situated in her own room, and she was sleep. Her fever had gone down a bit, and the doctor gave her medicine to help with any pain she was experiencing. Jade assumed that was the reason Bianca was crying to much.

"And I'm sorry for not noticing anything sooner and that had to be in pain all day." Jade continued, her heart breaking. She felt so guilty for not noticing anything sooner.

Beck stood in the doorway, holding a cup of hot coffee. Jade was such a mom now. It still blew his mind.

He cleared his throat as he walked in and Jade turned to him. "I got you a cup of coffee."

"Thank you."

Beck looked at the sleeping baby in front of him and smiled. She looked a lot like Jade. "Is this little Bianca?"

"Yes."

"She's beautiful."

"Thank you."

Beck sat down across from Jade, and watched her as she whispered words into her daughter's ear. They were only missing one thing. "Jade, is her father on his way here?"

Jade shook her head, "No."

"What do mean?"

"Beck, don't start with me." Jade warned. "Not right now."

"His daughter is in the hospital and he isn't coming. What an asshole."

"Don't curse in front of my daughter! And I'm not having this conversation with you."

"I'm sorry, but whoever this guy is needs to be with you and Bianca. I would never-"

Beck was really pushing it, "Shut up, Beck. Just shut up."

"How can he not be here, Jade? Does he not care about his child? Is he that-"

"It's you, Beck!" Jade announced. "It's you!"

Jade took one look at Beck's face and instantly regretted the words that came out of her mouth.

* * *

(enter dramatic soap opera music) Dun dun duh! I'll just leave it right there. How do you think Beck is going to react to this life changing news? Merry Christmas Eve, everyone. I hope you all have super amazing days tomorrow!


	4. Chapter 4

Jade felt like she had been under the scrutiny of Beck's gaze for a lifetime. It was intense, unwavering, and it made her squirm in her seat.

Beck could believe what he just heard. She said out of her mouth that Bianca was his daughter. His head was spinning. He felt like a ton of bricks were on his chest and he couldn't breathe properly.

"Are you telling me that she's mine?" Beck asked. "She's my daughter?"

Jade nodded, "You are Bianca's father, Beck."

"But how? How is that even possible?"

"Well Beck, I'm pretty sure we took a health class in high school, and you know how to make a baby."

Beck glared at Jade, his eyes piercing into her. "Don't be a smartass right now!"

Jade gulped. Beck's tone scared the hell out of her, but she wasn't about to be intimidated. She sat up straighter and cleared her throat. "Andre's party, about a year and a half ago. Does that ring a bell?"

Beck opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it. What is something appropriate to say after someone just drops a major bombshell like that?

Karen walked into the room, holding a paper bag. "Jade, sweetie are you hungry? I got you-"

"No, mom I'm fine." Jade replied, her eyes never leaving Beck.

Beck stood up, pushing the chair over. He hurriedly walked out of the room.

A cry filled the room. Jade looked down at Bianca, who was awoken by the loud noise, and started crying.

Jade frowned and turned to her mother, "Can you stay with her, please?"

"Of course. What was that all about?"

"Nothing. I'll be back." Jade got out of her seat and tried to catch up with Beck.

She found him in a private room down the hall from Bianca's room, his head against a wall. The room had a few chairs and a table filled with books of babies and little kids.

Jade closed the door behind her, "Beck we have to talk."

Beck turned around, "She's really mine?"

"Yes."

"And you're 100% sure about that?"

"Yeah. I don't just sleep around with a ton of guys Beck."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Beck asked.

Jade didn't respond. She ran her fingers through her hair and looked down nervously at her shoes.

"ANSWER ME!" Beck ordered, making Jade jump.

"I was scared." Jade answered. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with me."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because you avoided me like I was the plague. Like I was yesterday's trash."

"No, I didn't."

"Beck, the next morning when I woke up, you had fled the hotel. I called, and called, and called. Did you answer? No. I e-mailed. Did you reply? When I found out I was pregnant, I just thought..."

"Thought what?"

"That it'd be better if you didn't know."

"You are so out of line! She's my daughter!" Beck yelled. "You had no right to keep this from me!"

"I'm sorry-"

"You aren't sorry!" Beck's voice boomed off of the walls. Jade was pretty sure the entire hospital could hear him, he was yelling so loud.

He took a step closer towards Jade. She took a step back. He took another step and Jade was backed against the wall. They were so close that their foreheads were almost touching. Beck put his hands on either side of Jade, so she was trapped. "If I hadn't pushed for information about Bianca's father, would you have told me?"

"I don't know."

"Jade, don't lie to me." His tone was dangerously low and it sent a chill down Jade's spine.

"I'm sorry."

Beck shook his head, "You would have kept her from me forever. You are selfish. You're only sorry that you got caught."

"Beck I-"

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say." Beck said. He walked away from Jade, and towards the door. He couldn't stand being around Jade any longer.

"Wait." Jade said, grabbing his arm.

Beck forcefully removed his arm out of Jade's grip. "Do. Not. Touch. Me." He pulled the door open and stormed out.

Jade stared at the door in shock, trying to wrap her brain around what just happened. She wiped the tears off of her face.

She walked down the hall, back to Bianca's room. As she was walking, a sob escaped from her body. She had to stop walking and collect herself. Bianca didn't need to see her mother crying.

When and how did things get so messed up? She suddenly wished that she never came back to Los Angeles. She should've stayed in Manhattan.

She wiped her eyes and nose on the sleeve of her shirt. She knew that she looked absolutely horrible, but she didn't care. She just wanted to see her baby.

When Jade made it back to Bianca's room, Karen was playing peek-a-boo with her granddaughter. Bianca's eyes lit up and her arms started flailing around when she saw her mother enter the room.

"Hi baby." Jade greeted, smiling sadly and reaching out to Bianca. Bianca held out her arms, waiting for her mother to pick her up. Jade scooped the baby up and held her close to her body. "Are you feeling better?"

Karen took one look at Jade's tear-stained face, and worry filled her eyes. "Jade, what's wrong?"

Jade didn't say a word. She just held Bianca closer, kissing her head.

* * *

Andre had been searching all over the hospital for Beck, but he was nowhere to be found. They were all in the waiting room when they saw Beck storm past them, anger written all over his face. Naturally, that was cause for worry, so he decided to go find his friend.

Andre had run out of places to look. He searched every part of the hospital-well parts that allowed him in. It wasn't like he could just walk into ICU, or the OR, or the burn unit without a solid reason for doing do.

He decided to just text Beck and ask him where he was. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and composed a quick text.

_Andre: Hey man, where are you?_

He crossed his fingers and hoped that Beck would reply. His phone buzzed almost instantly.

_Beck: My car. I'm in the upstairs parking lot._

When Andre reached Beck's car, he honestly didn't know what to expect. What made him so angry? Who made him so angry?

He opened the car door and slid into the passenger seat. Beck was softly hitting the steering wheel, muttering words that Andre couldn't make out.

"Hey." Andre greeted, after a moment of silence.

"Hi."

"What happened back there, man? You seemed fine not that long ago."

"I'm Bianca's father." Beck said.

Andre's eyes widened. So Jade finally told him.

"Oh." Was all Andre could say.

"Bianca is 6 months old. Because of Jade, I have missed out on 6 months of my little girl's life."

"Beck-"

"No scratch that!" Beck continued, completely ignoring Andre. "I missed out on Jade's entire pregnancy. I didn't go to her doctor's appointments. I didn't get to feel her kick. I missed the delivery. And these first few months are so important. When did Bianca start crawling? Does she eat solid foods? Does she sleep through the night? What does she like to eat?"

Andre could hear the hurt and betrayal in Beck's voice. He felt really guilty. He played a part in all of this madness.

"How could she do that to me?" Beck questioned. "How could she keep my daughter away from me? What gives her the right? If I didn't go in there and ask about Bianca's father, I would have never known. I would have went through life without getting the chance to know my daughter. How could Jade be so selfish?"

"Look, I know you're hurting, but Jade was scared, and emotional, and-"

"Wait, what?" Beck turned to Andre. "Did you know about this?"

Oh shit, Andre thought. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. "I...uh, well, I umm..."

"Spit it out!" Beck snapped.

"Yes. I knew."

"For how long?"

"I came out to New York and Jade said she was a month pregnant, and she told me everything."

Beck scoffed, "Of course. You're Andre Harris. Jade tells you _everything_." He tone was sarcastic and mocking.

"She wanted to tell you, but she thought you didn't care about her. I watched her leave message after message, e-mail after e-mail." Beck shook his head. "I wanted Jade to tell you, I really did."

"If you knew she wasn't going to tell me, why didn't you? I wasn't ignoring you."

"I wanted to be left out of this."

"You were already in this! What you really wanted to do was be Jade's secret keeper. Her knight in shining armor."

"Hey, I know you're upset but don't jump on me. You should have never slept with Jade in the first place. That's what started this huge mess. Now we can spend the rest of our lives pointing fingers, but we are adults. And Jade isn't the only selfish person in this situation. It was selfish of you to sleep with Jade and leave, because it kind of fucked her up, mentally and emotionally. And it was selfish because you're in a relationship with Tori. You're life doesn't revolve around you anymore so cut this "whoa was me" crap. You have a daughter. Bianca needs you and Jade 100%, all in. So I'm going to tell you what I told Jade."

Beck rolled his eyes, "What did you tell her?"

"Get your shit together." Andre opened the car door and got out, slamming it behind him.

* * *

The next day, Bianca was back at home and Cat had came to visit her and Jade. She thought Jade deserved some quality best friend time

"Bianca, Auntie Cat got you so much stuff!" Cat exclaimed, holding up two big bags. She put the bags down and started pulling things out. "I got you a stuffed puppy, a stuffed elephant, a cupcake pillow, some books."

"Goodness Cat, she's only 6 months old." Jade said.

Cat shrugged, "She's my God daughter, and it is my job to spoil her even when you tell me that I can't."

Jade smiled, appreciating the kind gesture. Cat adored Bianca, and Bianca adored her in turn. "Well thank you."

"No problem. Bianca is so lovable, and spoiling her is easy." Cat picked Bianca up and gave her an Eskimo kiss. Bianca giggled and grabbed a piece of Cat's hair. "You like my hair, baby doll? When you get old enough, we are going to dye your hair this color."

"Absolutely not!"

"Come on, Jade, you dyed your hair all the time when we were younger."

"Not red. Just dark brown, and then black. Then I washed it out, and I'm now back to my original light brown color."

Cat rolled her eyes and turned back to Bianca, "Well we're going to get you colored streaks. Mommy used to have colored streaks in her hair."

"We'll talk more about this in 16 years." Jade held her arms out. Cat handed her the baby. "Time for Bianca to take a nap. Bianca, say bye bye to Cat."

Cat blew Bianca a kiss as Jade was walking up the stairs, "Sweet dreams, baby doll!"

A few minutes later, Jade came back down, a baby monitor in her hands. She plopped down on the couch, visibly exhausted.

"You look like you could use a nap yourself, Jade."

Jade pulled her hair out of her face and into a messy bun, "I'm so tired. Bianca's sick, which means she is a lot more fussy than usual, and she's more clingy. She's usually sp independent, but that's fine with me, I love that she needs me. But last night she would not go to sleep unless I held her hand and sang to her."

"But she was in the hospital. She was probably scared."

"You're probably right."

Cat rubbed Jade's arm, "I'm glad that she's alright."

"Me too. I was so scared for her."

"Well she's fine now. She just needs to take her antibiotics and she will be good as new."

"Yeah."

"I think Beck took it really hard. He stormed out of the hospital like a bat out of hell. I can understand him, though. Seeing a baby in the hospital is really sad."

Jade shook her head, "That's not why he stormed out."

"Really? What happened then?"

"Cat, Beck is Bianca's father. I told him that yesterday, and that's why he stormed out of the hospital."

"What? You and Beck?"

Jade nodded, "Me and Beck. We have a child together."

"He cheated on Tori?"

"Yes."

Cat's head was spinning. She grabbed it and took a deep breath. "Does Tori know?"

"No."

"Oh my goodness, Jade. Does anyone else know?"

"Just Beck, Andre, Tyler and now you." Jade replied.

"Andre? He knew before I did?"

Jade rolled her eyes, "You're really about to get jealous right now?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend. You didn't have to keep this from me."

"I was scared. I didn't want a lot of people finding out. I didn't want you guys to hate me."

Cat frowned, "Why would I hate you, Jadey?"

"Because I hurt everyone's precious little Tori. I slept with her fiancé. I'm the homewrecker."

"I could never hate you. You're my best friend forever. Until we are old and grey and living in a retirement home together."

Jade smiled, "Well thank you. Beck hates me now, and when Beck tells Tori, she's going to hate me, and so is her family, and the rest of the world when this all comes out."

"Well fuck them."

Jade's eyes widened in shock, "Did you just curse?"

Cat gasped and her hand flew to her mouth, "I did, didn't I? Goodness gracious Jade, you're rubbing off on me."

"Good."

"But anyway, I don't hate you, your family doesn't, Andre doesn't, and certainly not Bianca. You're the most important person in the world to her and that's all that matters."

"You're right."

"Do you know what you're going to do?"

Jade shrugged, "No. Beck just looked so angry, and he was yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs."

"Beck didn't say anything?"

"No. My biggest fear is that he will try to take her away from me."

"Don't say that, Jade. Beck wouldn't do something like that."

"You didn't see him, though. It's like he wasn't the Beck that I've know since I was 14. The calm, collected, mellow, level headed guy was long gone and in his place was someone who sent a chill down my spine."

"Everyone knows that you love that baby as if your life depends on it. Beck would be a fool to try anything against you."

"I don't know what happens now."

Cat grabbed Jade's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Whatever happens, I just want you to know that I'm in your corner."

Jade pulled the forever-optimistic redhead into a hug. She felt lucky to have a friend that loved her and didn't judge the horrible things she did. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Jade had no idea what was to come in these next few days. She just had to hope for the best and pray that she and her daughter come out of the situation still in tact.


	5. Chapter 5

"I've learned that we're all entitled to have secrets."

-Nicholas Sparks

* * *

To say that there was a very thick tension in the air would be a complete and utter understatement. If looks could kill, Andre and Jade would be dead and Beck would be charged for murder. The only two people that weren't throwing glances at each other were Robbie and Tori. They were blissfully unaware of what was going on around them.

Beck hadn't uttered a word to Andre or Jade since he found out about Jade's daughter was actually 'their' daughter. He felt betrayed, hurt, and confused.

And now everyone had been forced into a situation. Cat and Robbie just had a rehearsal dinner and the friends were now the only people left in the house, and they were sitting awkwardly in the living room.

"That was a lovely dinner, Robbie and Cat." Tori complimented, trying to strike up a conversation. She couldn't stand not one more minute of the silence.

"Yeah.", "It was great.", "The chicken pasta was good." Was muttered throughout the room.

Cat smiled, "Thank you but it's all thanks to my mother and one million aunts. They did all the cooking. I just served it to everyone."

"Well tell them that it was delicious."

"I will. I promise." Cat got out of her seat. "Well I need to do the dishes."

Jade jumped up, "Great I'll help you."

"Oh, Jadey you don't have to help me."

Jade was already in the kitchen and standing at the sink by the time Cat finished her sentence. "I want to."

"Alright." Cat walked to the kitchen. She opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of gloves. "I wash, you dry."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"When have you ever been interested in doing dishes?" Cat asked, pouring dish washing liquid onto a plate.

"Never, but I needed to get out of that living room. I thought I was going to suffocate."

"Good. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who felt it."

"Please, the neighbors probably felt it."

"Have you and Beck talked to each other?"

"Not since Bianca was in the hospital a few days ago."

"Did you try calling him?"

"I called him once, and he didn't answer. I'm not going to keep calling like I did when I was pregnant. Once again, Beck has all the power in the situation. When he figures out what he wants to do, he can call me."

"This is a complicated situation, Jadey. You just gotta give him time."

"Yeah but how much time is enough time, Cat? Is he going to figure out what he wants when Bianca is 18? I get that he doesn't want to talk to me, but if he wants anything to do with his daughter, he needs to be proactive."

"This is why you guys need to talk, and just clear the air."

"Tell that to him, not to me."

"You want me to? Because I will."

"You don't have to, but thanks."

"Can you do this before my wedding? You guys are walking down the aisle together, and I want you to be able to be cordial."

"Cat your wedding is in two days."

"I know. I don't want my wedding to be filled with what that living room is filled with. If you can't get it together, at least act like you can. For my sake, at least."

Jade sighed, "Of course, Cat. I wouldn't dream of messing your big day up."

Cat smiled, "Good. Have you shown Bianca her outfit yet?"

"No I haven't. By the way, do I have to carry her down the aisle? She can't walk."

"My little cousin, Nicole will. She and Bianca will be co-flower girls."

"Alright."

Tori entered the kitchen, "Need an extra hand?"

Cat turned around, "Sure. I wash, Jade dries, you put away."

"Great!"

The three women made something like an assembly line. It was quiet, and tense. Being around Tori made Jade's skin crawl a bit.

Tori cleared her throat, "Hey do you guys know why Beck and Andre are not speaking to each other?"

Jade froze. She had to think of something to say. Telling the truth wasn't exactly an option at the moment.

"Um, I don't really know." Cat answered.

"Yeah, Beck just comes home without speaking to me. It's like he wants to say something, but he won't. And Andre isn't saying anything either." Tori turned to Jade. "Have you spoken to Andre?"

"No. I noticed the weird vibe, but Andre hasn't said anything."

"Really? I can't believe he hasn't told you, Jade."

"What do you mean?"

"Andre has been keeping secrets for you. You guys are best friends now, so I assumed that he would tell you."

"Assuming is for the stupid, Tori. And I don't really like your tone with me."

"Jadey..." Cat warned, tugging on her friend's sleeve.

Tori put her hand on her hip, "What is wrong with my tone?"

"You are just being eaten up by jealousy because Andre is my friend, and you are being left out of the loop."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are. You can't stand it. News flash, Tori, you don't always need to be in the middle of someone else's life. And next time you want to find something out about me, ask me and don't go behind my back and ask Andre."

"Andre told you?"

"Yes, he told me."

Cat huffed in frustration, "Guys you know I don't like conflict. Can we not do this here in front of me?"

"Sorry."

Jade wiped her hands on a paper towel and sighed. "I'm gonna leave."

Cat frowned, "No."

"Yeah. I'm tired and I shouldn't be here. Cat I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Bye. Drive safely. And call me later!"

"I will."

Tori watched as Jade walked out of the kitchen and through the living room. Once she was gone, Tori turned to Cat. "What the hell is going on around here?"

* * *

"Beck, it's so nice to see you." Beck's mother, Pamela greeted, pulling Beck into her home. "It feels like we never see you anymore."

"Hi mom. What are you up to?"

"I'm baking a pie. Your Aunt Jessica is coming to visit for a few days, and she loves my apple pie, so I thought I'd bake one for her."

Beck sat down at the kitchen island, "That's sweet of you."

"So how's Tori?" Pamela asked. "Have you guys made any more wedding plans?"

"Tori is great. She is working on her new album. And no, we haven't made any wedding plans."

"Why not?"

"There is no need to rush into a wedding."

"Well when you guys start planning, I want to know."

"I promise that you will be the first to know."

Pamela smiled, "Thank you."

"Is dad here? I wanted to tell you guys something."

"Your father is at the golf course right now. Why, what did you need to tell us?"

"I kind of wanted to tell you guys together."

"It's that serious?"

"Very serious. Life changing, actually."

"Well can you tell me? We can tell your dad later."

"I really want to tell you two together."

"Tell what?" Beck's father, Steven asked. He walked into the kitchen, a bag of golf clubs on his shoulder.

Pamela jumped, "Steven, don't scare me like that."

Steven kissed his wife's forehead, "Sorry, sweetheart. Hi Beck."

"Hey dad."

"What brings you by, son?"

"Beck has something to tell us." Pamela said. "And he wanted to tell us together. He says it's life changing."

"Ooh, life changing. Are you buying us a house in Florida?"

"Beck that is extremely cliché, and it makes us feel old. Older people go to Florida, and I am 52. I won't even consider moving until I am in my 70s."

"Ma, no one is moving to Florida."

"Well good."

"Son, what's up?"

Beck ran his hand over his face. How was he supposed to break this news to his parents? Maybe he could just say, "Hey guys, I got my ex pregnant. Congrats grandma and grandpa." or he could just drop Bianca off and let them connect the dots.

"Beck, sweetie, what's the matter?" Pamela questioned, taking in the look on her son's face.

"I...cheated on Tori."

Pamela looked up from her pie crust in shock. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was wide open. "Oh. Like you slept with someone else?"

"Yes."

"Does Tori know? She is you fiancé after all."

Beck shook his head, "No I haven't told her."

"Well why are you telling us? Are you being blackmailed? Do you want to tell us because you don't want us to find in a magazine? Do you-"

"Pam, let the boy talk."

"Sorry. I just feel nervous."

"The woman I cheated on Tori with is Jade." Beck added.

Pamela shook her head, "Oh no. We are not going through another Jade arc."

"Jade arc?" Steven repeated.

"Yes. We had to put up with that girl for almost four years. I can not do it again, Steven. My nerves will not allow it. She has piercings, and that hair coloring, and that awful attitude."

"Jade has removed the piercings, rinsed out the color in her hair, and her attitude has drastically improved since she's had a baby."

"A baby? When did Jade have a baby?"

"6 months ago. A baby girl named Bianca."

"Aw how precious." Pamela cooed, picking up a bowl of apples.

"She's my daughter."

The bowl of apples that Pamela was carrying dropped out of her hands and fell to the floor with a loud bang. She dropped to the floor and hastily picked them up.

"Beck what do you mean? You don't have a daughter with Jade."

"I do. We have a daughter."

"You have a 6 months old daughter and we are just finding out about her? Beck Oliver, what type of sense does that make?"

"Mom, I just found out a few days ago."

"What?"

"Jade just told me about Bianca. She was keeping me in the dark.

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. She said she was scared."

"Scared?" Pamela repeated. "Scared of what? You?"

"I don't know. I haven't talked to her."

"What do you mean?"

"After she told me, we had an argument and I stormed away from her. We haven't spoken in a few days."

"How do you know that the baby is yours?" Steven asked. "She could be lying."

Beck sighed, "She's mine, dad. If you guys took one look at her, you'd know."

Steven rolled his eyes, "That could just be your emotions. If you and Jade had a one night fling-I'm just going to assume that's what it was-then you can't be 100% sure that the little girl is your daughter."

"You want me to ask Jade for a paternity test? Jade wouldn't hide Bianca from me if she wasn't mine."

"Why give up the secret? Does she want money?"

"Jade's never needed my money."

"A lot of people that have money don't need it, Beck, but it doesn't stop their greed."

"This isn't about money."

Pam put her hand over her heart and took a deep breath. "I need to sit down. This is all too much." She sat in the nearest chair.

"I'm sorry for springing this all on you so out of the blue. I just had to tell you guys."

Steven walked to the pantry to get a bottle of water. "It's definitely a shock." He gave the bottle to his wife. "I mean this is crazy. You have a child with someone who is not the woman you are going to be marrying. And the mother of your child happens to be your ex."

"How are you going to tell Tori?"

"I am going to tell her after Cat and Robbie's wedding." Beck answered. He didn't even want to think about what type of conversation that would be. He shuddered.

"Tomorrow?"

"Or the day after tomorrow."

Pamela nodded, "Okay. Well when are we going to meet our granddaughter?"

"I have to talk to Jade first. We have a lot to sort through before you guys start telling our family members about the baby."

Pam stood up and pulled her son into a hug, "I love you."

"I love you too, mom." Beck replied, wrapping his arms around his mother.

"I hate this situation right now, though. I always wanted it to be love, marriage, then a baby. But I guess I have to settle for love, break up, one night stand, then baby. It's not what I wanted for you, but like I said earlier, I love you. And I'm sure I am going to love and adore Bianca."

Beck pulled away from the hug, "I'm sure you will too." He wiped his mother's eyes. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't know why I'm crying. I'm just emotional right now."

"Don't be, please."

"We have so much to do and to put together. We have to get a room prepared for if she stays over. What kind of toys does she like? What size clothes and shoes does she wear?"

Beck was dumbfounded. "Did you hear anything I just said? Don't start decorating a nursery just yet."

Steven put a hand on Beck's shoulder, "Just let her be."

* * *

Beck was nervous. Extremely nervous. Like he was about to go on stage, or do an interview in front of a live studio of people.

He was standing at Karen's front door later that evening, debating on whether or not to ring the doorbell.

He had been to this house millions of times, but now his hands were clammy and his heart rate was accelerating. He took a deep breath. He was going to do this.

Before Beck could even ring the doorbell, Jade opened the door, a bag slung over her shoulder and Bianca on her hip. They were both wearing pink, button down silk pajamas.

"Beck!" Jade flinched, a bit startled at seeing Beck at her doorstep. "Hi."

"Hi." Beck greeted.

"What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

"I'm on my way to Cat's house right now. Can this wait?"

"It can't. Please?"

Jade stepped aside, allowing Beck to walk inside. He did, and Jade shut the door behind him.

They walked into the living room, and Jade put Bianca in her playpen. Beck sat down in the chair next to it.

Jade ran her fingers through her hair, "Do you want some coffee, or some tea?"

"No. I think I've had enough caffeine in me for the day."

Jade nodded, "Okay."

Beck took one more look at Jade's pajamas and smirked. Jade in pink was something he thought he'd never see. "I like your pajamas."

"I'm doing this for Cat." Jade explained. "She's making all of us wear them."

"They're nice."

Jade scowled at him, "Don't patronize me."

"I'm not."

"Beck, why are you here? Considering our last encounter, I thought you wanted nothing to do with me."

"I'm sorry about that. I was out of line, and upset, and shocked."

"I accept your apology." Jade sighed. "I'm sorry, too. Not telling you about Bianca wasn't the right thing to do."

"Yeah, but we can't change the past."

"I was so scared. I just..." Jade stopped herself. She wanted to word this the best way she could. "Beck, you were avoiding me. I thought you wanted nothing to do with me. You and Tori were on the cover of every single magazine known to man, looking so happy, so I didn't want to intrude."

"Avoiding you wasn't my best idea, but come on Jade. Waking up, hungover, in a hotel, naked, next to my ex-girlfriend really freaked me out. I wanted to pretend like that night didn't happen, so I avoided you. Us possibly conceiving a child never crossed my mind."

Jade chuckled humorlessly, "Yeah, but here she is. And here we are."

Beck turned to Bianca. She was playing with a stuffed bear, alternating between hitting it and biting it.

"Can I hold her?" Beck asked.

That question threw Jade for a loop. After staring at Beck for a few seconds, she gestured towards the crib. "Go ahead."

Beck reached for Bianca and picked her up. He sat her in his lap and stared into her brown eyes. She stared back, trying to get used to his face. Beck was a stranger to her.

"Hi, Bianca." Beck greeted, smiling at the baby. "I'm your da-I'm Beck." He offered her his hand, which she gladly accepted.

Bianca smiled back at Beck and started babbling, excitedly. Beck smiled and nodded, as if he understood what she was saying.

"Five seconds in, and she's already comfortable with you." Jade remarked.

"Lucky me."

"It isn't surprising because she loves everyone. I don't know who she got that from. She obviously didn't get that from me, so it must be from you."

"I'm going to tell Tori everything tomorrow, or some other time after the wedding."

"Good. That's good."

"And I thought telling my parents was nerve-wracking."

"You told your parents!"

"Yes. Was I not supposed to?"

"No, no. This is just happening really fast, that's all."

"You can say that again."

"Do you want me to be there when you tell Tori? Maybe it can soften the blow."

"I doubt it. It might do the exact opposite." Beck stood up and handed Bianca back to Jade. "Well I don't want to keep you guys. You ladies have a girly, pre-wedding, slumber party to go to."

Jade groaned, "Cat is lucky that I love her."

The three of them made it out of the house and walked to Jade's rental car. "Thank you for letting me talk."

"Thank you for letting me do the same."

"See you tomorrow."

Jade nodded, "Bye." She grabbed Bianca's hand and and gently shook it side to side. "Bianca, can you wave bye bye?"

Beck waved at the toddler, "Bye." He started walking to his car.

The conversation went better than expected. Sure, they had a long way to go, but they made progress. And Beck was willing to accept that.

* * *

Why hello there guys! I just wanted to tell you guys that you leave the most amazing reviews. You're so sweet. And if there is one thing I learned reading your reviews, its that you guys do NOT want Tori to be a major bitch, so I promise to make her at least a minor bitch. Enjoy! :)


	6. Chapter 6

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."

-Oscar Wilde

/

"I'm so happy that those two finally tied the knot." Jade remarked, sitting down next to Andre.

Cat and Robbie's wedding reception was in full swing now and everyone was currently in the ballroom of the Ritz.

"Me too." Andre agreed, looking at Cat and Robbie, who were in the middle of the dance floor, softly swaying to the music. "They deserve it."

"But I never want to be in another wedding, ever again." Jade groaned, pulling Bobby-pins out of her hair. She let out a sigh of relief once they were all out and her hair was down.

"Not even Tori and Beck's?"

Jade gave Andre an extremely harsh glare, "I'd rather peel off my own skin than witness Beck and Tori get married, let alone actually take part in their wedding."

"Well, Bianca was the cutest flower girl I've ever seen."

Jade smiled, remembering how Cat's little cousin, Nicole carried Bianca down the aisle. She looked adorable as she excitedly flung rose petals into the air, causing everyone to smile and/or laugh.

"She was really cute, wasn't she."

"Where is she now?" Andre asked.

"With my brother." Jade answered. "Tyler is probably using her to get girls."

Andre chuckled, "Smart boy."

"I told Beck about Bianca." Jade blurted out.

"I know. Beck told me."

"Oh! I didn't know."

"He isn't talking to me."

"Why not?"

"He also found out that I knew the entire time and didn't tell him. He's pissed at me."

"Andre, I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not okay. I ruined your friendship with Beck."

"You're my friend too, West."

Jade laid her head down on Andre's shoulder, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"You've been my friend throughout this entire thing. You've never judged me, you've always had my back, respected my decisions. I mean, you even defended me against Tori."

"You're welcome. I'll always have your back. Even when you're being stupid and irrational."

"Which is exactly what I've been. Stupid and irrational."

Andre held his hands up, "You said it, not me."

"Someone wants their mommy." Tyler sing-songed, walking over to where Jade and Andre were sitting, and gently placing Bianca into Jade's lap.

"Hey Ty. How many phone numbers did you get?" Jade asked, grabbing Bianca's feet so she could take off her shoes.

"10." Tyler pulled a handful of paper out of his pants pocket. "Women love weddings and really cute babies. They were practically throwing themselves at me."

Andre chuckled, "Atta boy."

Jade ran her hands down the sleeves of Bianca's hoodie. She had changed Bianca out of her dress over an hour ago, and now she was in a pink sweatsuit that Cat had custom made for her. On the back it said, 'Bianca, Flower Girl' in silver letters.

"Did you have a nice time with uncle, Bianca?" Jade questioned. Bianca smiled, her tiny tooth showing. "You did?"

"Jade, call me whenever you need someone to babysit Bianca. I'll gladly take her."

"I'm sure you will, Ty. Why don't you go hit on the women at the bar."

"Alright." Tyler tried to grab Bianca out of Jade's hands, but she stopped him.

"Without my daughter."

Tyler frowned, "You're no fun."

Tyler sighed, muttered some more words, turned and walked away from Jade and Andre.

Bianca laid her head in the crook of Jade's elbow. She was high on energy at one point, but now it seemed like she was crashing.

"I think someone is getting sleepy." Andre observed, looking over at Bianca.

"I think so too. She's been up all morning, except for a small nap she had while everyone was getting ready for the wedding ceremony. But since there's so much going on, she's kind of fighting her sleep."

"Too much excitement for a 6 month old."

Jade nodded, "Bianca thinks everything is exciting, don't you Bianca? Everything excites you."

"Hi."

Jade looked up from Bianca to see Beck towering over her, his hands in his pockets. He was rocking back and forth of the balls of his feet.

"Hi." Jade greeted back. "How are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"Same as I was yesterday."

"Bianca was an amazing flower girl."

"Thank you. I'm just glad that she remembered to let go of the flowers. When she grips onto something, she doesn't like to let go."

"Stubborn. Just like her mother."

"Yeah, that's not good at all."

Beck turned his head around, and saw that there were people on the dance floor. He turned back around. "If you don't mind, can I go dance with her?"

Jade looked down at Bianca, who was still wide awake. "Sure."

Beck carefully lifted Bianca up and carried her to the dance floor.

"This would be a lot more fun if you could balance yourself on your own two feet." Beck told the baby, who was caught up in his tie. "Or if your arms were long enough, I would let you stand on my feet."

Bianca was oblivious to was Beck was saying. She just put his tie in her mouth.

"You really like this thing, huh?" Beck loosened the tie and slipped it off of hinself. He placed the tie around Bianca's neck. "You can keep it. I don't really like ties, but being a best man and all, I kind of have to look presentable."

"You, on the other hand, were hands down, the prettiest little flower girl I have ever laid eyes on. You stole everyone's attention."

Beck stared at Bianca, her brown eyes matching his own. He still couldn't believe played a part in creating this tiny, perfect human being. She was dependent, she needed him. It was trippy, to say the least.

"You're something Bianca, you know that? I mean babies in general are something to be in awe of, but you're mine, which is even crazier."

Bianca laid her head down on Beck's shoulder, the excitement of the day finally wearing off. Beck gently put his cheek on Bianca's head.

"Your head smells good. Do all babies smell like this?" Bianca gurgled as a reply. "I'll take that as a yes."

Beck continued to sway back and forth to the music with Bianca, oblivious to everyone around them. The rest of the people in the ballroom were watching the cute moment between the two. Everyone thought it was just Beck dancing with his friend's daughter. But for the very few people that knew the truth, it was much more.

* * *

"That was a beautiful wedding." Tori said, tossing her purse onto her bed. "Wasn't it?"

"Yeah it was really nice."

"Cat was such a gorgeous bride." Tori gushed, pulling off her heels. She turned around and held up her hair, "Unzip me."

Beck unzipped Tori's dress, "Tor, can we-"

"I took so many pictures of you and Bianca." Tori continued, ignoring her fiancé. "I don't think you realized just how cute you two were." She stepped out of her dress. "If people weren't looking at Cat and Robbie, they were looking at you two. It was the most precious thing ever."

"Yeah, but-"

Tori grabbed onto Beck's shirt and started undoing the buttons. "There is nothing sexier than an attractive man with a baby in his arms." She gave him a peck on the lips and walked away from him to find something to put on.

"Tori, we-"

"I wonder if our wedding will be as nice as theirs." Tori walked into their closet and grabbed one of Beck's old college shirts. She slipped it over her head. "It won't be pink, though. I was thinking maybe green. Mint green. And a touch of silver. Maybe we could have a cliff side wedding, at around 4 'o clock. The sun will be setting hopefully, so it'll have to be some time in November or December when the sun sets-"

"Tori!"

Tori turned around, "Yes?"

"I have to talk to you."

"About what?"

Beck patted the bed, "Come sit."

Tori did as she was told, "What's up?"

Beck got down on his knees in front of Tori, and grabbed her hands. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I don't know how I'm going to do this." Beck said, putting his head down.

"What's the matter?" Tori asked, pulling her hand's out of Beck's grip. She put her hand underneath his chin and lifted it up. "You're scaring me."

"Tori, I-"

"You did what?"

"I cheated on you."

Tori stared at Beck for what seemed like forever. "I'm going to need you to repeat yourself, because I want to make sure I didn't hear what I thought I just heard."

"You heard me correctly. I cheated on you." Beck repeated.

Tori shook her head, "No. No. See I refuse to believe that Beck Oliver, my fiancé, cheated on me."

"Andre's birthday party, about 15 or 16 months ago. You got a headache, so you went home early. I got extremely drunk and, I cheated on you."

"Who is she? Who is the girl that was worth wrecking our relationship for?"

Beck sighed, "Jade."

"Jade West?" Beck nodded. Tori pushed Beck off of her, and she stood up. "Are you kidding me! Out of all the women in Los Angeles to sleep with, you pick _Jade_? The woman who will probably always have a hold over you."

"Tori-"

"I was under the impression that we were friends, but she's sleeping with you?"

"Slept." Beck corrected.

"Ugh! Do you guys laugh at me behind my back?" Tori started pacing. "You guys say, "Look at Tori Vega? She's such an oblivious fool. She has no idea what's going on." You two smile in my face, you say you love me, but you sleep with her?"

"Tori, can you please stop?"

"You came home the morning after your little rendezvous with Jade, and do you remember what you did?" Tori asked. "Do you?"

"No."

"You took a shower, you gave me a kiss, and then you got into bed with me. I just want to know how you were able to cheat on me and then hours later come home to me and pretend like nothing ever happened. Are you that shut off? Did you not care?"

"Of course I care, Tori."

"Why are you telling me all of this, over a year later? Cheater's remorse? You couldn't hold it in any longer? You had to let it out."

Beck sighed, "Bianca is my daughter."

That is when Tori felt like she was going to explode. "No way in hell."

"She's mine, Tori."

Tori felt a tear roll down her cheek. She angrily wiped it off of her face. "It wasn't enough just to sleep with her? You had to get her pregnant, too?"

"I didn't plan this."

Tori turned around and walked back into their closet. She grabbed a bag and the first articles of clothing she laid her eyes on. "This wouldn't be a problem if you would have just kept it in your pants."

"I'm sorry."

"You're only sorry that you were forced into tell me. You aren't sorry that you cheated on me."

"I am. I instantly regretted it."

"Why did you keep it a secret from me for over a year?"

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"Well you did, Beck. I'm hurt. No amount of secret keeping could've ever shielded me from this."

Beck walked over to Tori. He took the bag out of her hands. "Stop."

"Beck-"

"Stop packing." Beck gently ordered, gently tugging Tori's hand. "Don't leave me."

"No."

"Please." Beck pleaded.

Tori shook her head, "Let me go."

"No. I don't want you to leave."

"I can't stand to be around you right now." Tori admitted.

"Then I'll sleep in guess room."

"You aren't getting it. I can't be around you. I need to get away from you."

"Tori, stop. I love you."

Tori rolled her eyes in disgust, "People in love don't cheat, Beck."

"I made a mistake."

Tori ignored Beck and grabbed her phone and her car keys. She tossed both items into her bag. She walked out of the room and down the stairs.

"Where are you going to go?"

"That's none of your damn business." Tori replied, getting her coat off of the coat hanger. She pulled it over her arms.

"It is my business, Tori. You're my fiancée."

Tori only scoffed in reply. "On the bright side, you might not have to be alone tonight. You can call Jade and Bianca. I'm sure that they would love to come over."

Beck reached out for Tori, "Don't do this."

"I wish someone would have said that to you before you slept with Jade." And with that, Tori left the house, quickly slamming the door behind her, leaving Beck alone.

Beck picked up a silver candle holder that was sitting on a table near the entrance of the home. He threw it across the room and it shattered into tiny pieces. "Fuck!"

* * *

Jade wandered around the kitchen aimlessly, trying to find something to keep herself occupied.

Bianca was upstairs, out like a light. She was definitely going to sleep through the night. Jade on the other hand, was having a hard time falling asleep. The insomnia bug had gotten her.

Her phone rang loudly against the kitchen counter. She quickly grabbed it and answered before she woke anyone up.

"What?" Jade snapped, a little annoyed at the fact that someone was calling her this late at night.

"Hi, Jade." Beck greeted.

"Beck, why are you calling me at this time of night?"

"When someone greets you, you have to greet them back." Beck pointed out.

"Hi." Jade greeted. "What do you want?"

"I need to talk to someone."

"Beck, I could've been sleeping."

"Were you sleeping?" Beck asked.

"No."

"Okay then."

"What did you want to talk about?"

"I told Tori about Bianca." Beck told her.

Jade walked over to the kitchen table and sat down in a chair. "How did that go?"

"Horrible. Tori left."

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know. She probably went to her parent's house. She said that she couldn't be around me right now and she isn't answering any of my calls."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Jade."

"Yes it is. I should have told you about Bianca sooner."

"I should've told Tori that I cheated on her sooner. We both could have done things a lot sooner than we did, but we didn't."

"What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know. I don't really know how this parenting stuff works."

"I don't think anyone really knows. People just kind of wing it until it becomes natural. Kind of like improv."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well if that's the case, I guess I'll be pretty good at this."

"Why don't you come over to my mom's house tomorrow." Jade suggested.

"You want me to come over?"

"Well yeah. You and Bianca could spend more time together. She's really taken to you."

"Thank God. It'd be a tragedy if she didn't like her own father."

"Eh."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Jade."

"Night."

* * *

I apologize for the wait on this chapter. I would have had it up sooner, but I got a concussion and I had to go to the hospital and my head has been killing me. :( But I updated despite that, so yay! I'm a stubborn girl. :) Enjoy!


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry guys, but this chapter might be short. But that's okay! The next one will be longer. I pinky promise. :)**

* * *

One week. 7 days. 168 hours. That's how long it had been since Beck had seen or spoken to Tori. She was ignoring his calls, he went by her parents' house numerous times but he was stonewalled by them every time. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, and he couldn't blame her. He had hurt her, and destroyed what ever trust or faith she had in him.

But despite how upset Beck was about his relationship with Tori, overall he was happy. He had seen Jade and Bianca every day for a week.

Getting to know his daughter was amazing. Bianca was a tiny human being. She had likes and dislikes. She had a personality. She loved when Jade sang to her, she loved stuffed animals. She was also stubborn to a fault, just like her mother, but she was calm just like him. And her laugh was contagious. Anyone around her laughed right along with her.

"I think someone is sleepy." Beck noticed, feeling Bianca lay her head on his chest. He held up the plush book that he had just been reading to her. "We were just getting to the good part."

"I have read that book to Bianca about 600 times." Jade said, sitting next to Beck on his couch. "I don't think she's listening to me, but she likes the pictures. And now that she's teething, it has been added to the ever growing list of things that Bianca puts into her mouth." Bianca lifted her head up at the mention of her name. Jade gently tapped her nose. "Yeah, I'm talking about you, munchkin. You bite everything now." Bianca laughed and put her head back down.

"I have only read that book twice, and I feel like my brain will explode. I got off easy compared to you."

Jade nodded, "You did. I'm just glad that it's a short-" She was cut off by a yawn. "-book."

"You tired?"

"Extremely tired. Bianca didn't go to sleep without a fight last night, and she woke up early. So hopefully when she goes to sleep, she will sleep for a while."

Beck handed Bianca to Jade and stood up, "You want something to drink?"

"Sure." Jade watched as Beck walked into his kitchen. He pulled open the refrigerator door. "What you got?"

"I have water, milk, Red Bull, Sprite, and cranberry juice."

"I'll take cranberry juice."

Beck grabbed a glass and poured the the juice into it. He walked back into the living room and gave it to Jade. "Here you go."

"Thank you."

Bianca looked up at Jade's cup and reached out for it. Jade held it back, "No, Bianca. You can't have this." Bianca reached for it again, this time with more effort, but she hit the cup, knocking it over onto Jade. "Bianca!"

Beck rushed over and grabbed Bianca as Jade jumped up. "I'll go grab you a towel."

"Dammit!" Jade pulled the shirt away from her body. "This must be what I get for wearing a white shirt!"

Bianca picked up on her mother's changed demeanor. Her lip turned down into a pout and her eyes welled up with tears. She let out a loud cry. Beck put Bianca on his hip and gently patted her on the back. "It's okay Bianca. Let's go get your mom a towel or something."

As they walked up the stairs and to the hall closet, Bianca continued to cry. Beck grabbed a towel and then walked to his bedroom closet to find a shirt for Jade. "Trust me, your mommy's little meltdowns-slash-outbursts become pretty commonplace after a while. You don't need to get scared." He wiped the tears off of Bianca's face.

Bianca reached and and grabbed onto a shirt. "You want mommy to wear this? Okay, let's go get this to her."

The pair made it back down stairs and saw Jade dabbing her shirt with a wet paper towel. "Well this shirt is ruined."

Beck held up the shirt that was in Bianca's hand, "Bianca got you a new shirt."

"Really?" Jade smiled and took the shirt. "Thank you Bianca. I'll go put this on."

"The laundry room is right across the hall from the bath room, if you want to leave your shirt in there."

Jade laughed, "This is a Hanes cotton t-shirt. I can get a new one from Target."

Beck sat down and put Bianca in his lap. "Well Bianca is sorry. Right B?" Bianca smiled. "Yeah, she's sorry."

"It's okay. I'm sorry I scared you, Bianca."

"Go change your shirt." Beck ordered.

"Don't tell me what to do." Jade snapped. Beck gave Jade a pointed look. "Don't! And just so you know, I'm changing my shirt because I want to."

"Okay, Jade."

* * *

Jade woke up with a start. When she first woke up, she didn't know where she was. She had to look around to see, and she realized that she was in Beck's house.

"I must've fallen asleep." Jade said, running her hand over her face. She looked down and saw that Bianca was in her play pen, also sleeping.

Jade stood up, "Beck? Beck, where are you?"

She wandered into the kitchen and she spotted a note on the counter. She grabbed it and immediately recognized Beck's handwriting.

_I went to the store. Be back soon. –Beck_

Jade heard the door open behind her. "Beck, is that-" Jade turned around and saw Tori staring at her. Her eyes were cold and dark, and she looked so unkempt. "Oh! Tori."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Tori asked, stepping closer to Jade.

"I was just here with Bianca."

"Get out." Tori ordered.

"Excuse me?"

"Get. Out." Tori repeated. "You and Beck wanna play house, then you gotta do it somewhere else." She shook her head. "Not here."

"I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm an invited guest. You can't kick me out."

"Oh but I can. I own this house. So get out before I call the police."

"This is Beck's home too, Vega."

"Where is Beck?" Tori asked.

"He went to the store to buy food."

"How were you able to do it?" Tori asked, spotting a chair and sitting down."

"Do what?"

"Look me in the face." Tori answered. "How were you able to sleep with Beck? You knew he was in a committed relationship, not with you, but with me. How were you able to just so nonchalantly bring your kid here? Have you no guilt? No shame? No morals? You just waltz back into town with your bastard child, lying to everyone's faces."

"Don't you dare talk about my daughter! You leave her out of this."

"I didn't bring her into this. You did! You brought her into this when you slept with Beck!"

"Tori-"

"You've hated me since my first day of Hollywood Arts all those years ago. You've been out to destroy me. And for what? I accidentally bumped into Beck? I kissed him for our improv assignment?"

"Vega, let's not pretend for one second that the kiss was for class. You did that to hurt me."

"So the score must be Tori-1, Jade-500." Tori scoffed. "I tried so hard to be your friend. I helped you with your play, I get you and Beck back together, I helped you and Cat get back at those two girls at the karaoke club. What does naive little Tori Vega get in return? Jade sleeps with her boyfriend."

"Tori, were we ever friends?" Jade asked. "Honestly."

"Jade what do you mean?"

"If you really thought that I was your friend, you and Beck would have never been together."

"What?"

"You were there for most of my relationship with Beck. You know how I felt for Beck, and you know how hurt I was when we broke up." Jade explained. "So you get together with him, because you are such a fan-fucking-tastic friend."

"That doesn't give you the right to disrespect our relationship. You are just a mean spirited person."

"The only difference between you and me is that I will openly admit my meanness and my ugliness. You try to dress yours up and act like you are the most perfect person in the world, but let me tell you something. You, Victoria Vega, are a bitch."

"You would know, Jade."

"You're right. I would know. Now do you have anything else to say?"

"You disgust me. You are nothing but trash and I hope you get whatever is coming your way." Tori folded her arms over her chest. "You?"

"Not that it changes anything, or that it's any of your business, but Beck remembers more than he is willing to admit to you."

"What do you mean?"

"Ask him how many times he told me he missed me. Or how much he wanted me back. And how he loved me and that there was a tiny piece of him that would always be _in love _with me." Jade walked over to Tori.

"You are the definition of pathetic. Do you know that?" Tori scoffed. "You were willing to keep his bed warm for just one night because he whispered a few sweet nothings into your ear in his drunken haze. You must really have no self-esteem."

Jade bit the inside of her mouth. She cleared her throat, "I apologize for assuming that you two had broken up and I apologize for hurting you."

"Apology _not_ accepted." Tori stood up. She glanced over and saw Bianca. "Enjoy this while it lasts, Jade. I'm gonna blow you away. This is far from over."

Tori hastily walked out of the house, slamming the door harshly behind her. Bianca woke up due to the loud noise and started crying."

"Just perfect." Jade mumbled, running her hands through her hair.

* * *

"Wait you and Tori ran into each other?" Tyler asked.

Jade nodded, "Yes sir, we did."

"Where?"

"Beck's house. Bianca and I had fallen asleep, and Beck had gone to the store. Then I heard the door open and I thought it was Beck, but it was Tori."

"What were you guys talking about?"

"What do you think we talked about?" Jade snapped.

"Don't yell at me!" Tyler snapped back.

Jade rolled her eyes, "She can't stand me. I disgust her."

"She said that?" Jade nodded. "Wow."

"Yeah."

"You guys didn't hit each other did you?" Tyler asked.

Jade shook her head, "No. No physical contact included."

"Good for you."

"I am a grown up, after all."

"Was there any hitting below the belt?"

"Of course there was."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Tyler smiled, "Good."

"But she did threaten me."

"Not good."

"Yeah, Tori said that I should enjoy the moment while it lasts because she's gonna blow me away."

"What the hell does that mean?" Tyler asked.

"I have no idea."

"It sounds so cryptic and evil."

Jade's phone rang and she grabbed it off of the couch. "Andre's calling." She answered and put the phone to her ear. "Hi Andre."

"Your mom gets E! right?" Andre asked, skipping a greeting.

"The television channel?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, she gets E!. Why does that matter at all?"

"Turn it to that channel."

"Gosh, you're so bossy." Jade grabbed the remote off of the coffee table and changed the channel.

"_Breaking news right here at E! News. Actor Beck Oliver and his fiancee, singer Tori Vega have broken off their year long engagement and their 3 year also took to Twitter to say Beck cheated on her, and has a secret love child with his ex-girlfriend, writer Jade West. I'm Giuliana Rancic and we'll have more from this story coming up."_

"Jade?" Tyler waved his hand back and front in front of Jade's face. "Jade, are you all right?"

"Are you seeing this or am I just seeing things? Am I losing my mind?"

"I see it too, Jade."

Jade ran her hand over her eyes and stared at the screen. She blinked a few times just for good measure. The same thing was on the screen. "No way."

Tori had spilled the beans. She told the entire world the truth.

Jade felt Tyler's hand on her shoulder, but it felt distant. Like her body was there, but everything else was somewhere far apart. She could understand why Tori would be upset with her. What woman wouldn't be upset? But she crossed the line. She was messing with Bianca's life now. And that was a _terrible_ mistake.

"Game on, Vega."


	8. Chapter 8

"Beck, I do not think you're fully grasping the severity of this situation." Beck's publicist, Rayna told him. She was currently pacing around her office, coffee mug and iPad in hand. "Do you know how big of a scandal this is?"

Beck groaned. He was absolutely exhausted. For the past few days, his life had been complete chaos. Paparazzi was stalking him, his Twitter page crashed due to the large amount of extremely negative Tweets he had been receiving, and every magazine and talk show wanted an interview with him.

"Trust me when I say, I know. I know how big this is."

"This isn't just big, Beck." Rayna said. "This is huge!" Usually, she would say any publicity was good publicity, but this was extremely bad. "You had an affair with some woman."

"Okay, it wasn't an affair, Rayna." Beck argued. "It was a drunken one night stand with my ex-girlfriend."

"That resulted in her giving birth to your illegitimate child."

"Could your tone be a bit nicer when you're referring to my daughter?"

"Trust me when I say, it's only going to get worse from here. That's going to be the nicest thing you hear concerning Bianca."

Beck rolled his eyes, "Bianca is a baby. I doubt that anyone could say something mean about her."

"Beck, people don't care how old Bianca is, or how cute she is, or how big and brown her eyes are. This is the real world and in the real world, people are vicious. All that the people care about is that America's Sweetheart, Tori Vega, just got her heart broken. That's it. Remember how Kristen Stewart was treated during her cheating scandal? As far as we're concerned, all she did was kiss a guy in public a few times. Do you honestly think those crazy 14 year old girls will stop to consider Bianca when they attack you and Jade?"

Beck looked down at his shoes, "No."

"We have a lot of damage control to do because this isn't the typical shoplifting scandal. This is I cheated on my fiancée and got another woman pregnant!"

"Well what do you suppose I do?" Beck asked, looking up.

"First, you need to issue a public apology to your fans. Then we'll schedule you an interview, possibly with GMA. We'll have to go from there."

"What about Bianca and Jade?"

"What about them?"

"Will I get even more backlash if I'm seen in public with my baby?"

Rayna sat down opposite of Beck, "I'm not going to tell you to not see Bianca. See her as much as you'd like. America's opinion of you can only go up at the moment."

"Can I say, "Fuck America's opinion."?"

Rayna scoffed, "You better be joking right now, and if you are, it's not funny. The last you want to do is come off as an asshole who doesn't care about his fans."

"Sorry. I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

"Well stop trying. Do not go off and do your own thing right now." Rayna ordered. "You do exactly what I say. Are we clear?"

Beck nodded, "Crystal."

Rayna let out a sigh of relief, "Good."

* * *

"How are you holding up right now, Jade?" Andre asked, facing his friend who was sitting in the driver's seat of her rental car.

They were in the Hollywood Arts parking lot. They had gotten a call from Sikowitz the day before and he said that since Jade was in town, she should come visit, and maybe talk to a few of his students. She immediately agreed. Coming back to Hollywood Arts would be an excellent distraction.

"I'm okay." Jade replied, inspecting herself in the mirror.

"I know you're lying to me."

Jade sighed, "Andre-"

"I know that this has all gotten to you, West. You don't have to act so tough around me."

"You know I can handle all the horrible things people say about me. I have really thick skin. But the things that the people are saying about Bianca are just downright awful." Jade turned around and looked in the backseat. Bianca was sitting in her seat, playing with her stuffed bear. "She's a baby. She can't defend herself to the world. It's like I'm watching a baby gazelle get attacked by a pack of wild lions. I knew the people would be mean, but Bianca is the innocent one in this situation. She didn't ask to be conceived and born into all of this madness."

Andre put a comforting hand on Jade's shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't think so."

"I can talk to Tori." Andre suggested.

"Do not mention her name!"

"I'm just saying, maybe I can convince her to lighten up on you. She's out for blood."

"Tori Vega doesn't scare me. She's nothing more than a yappy little Chihuahua with a band of mindless little followers who are willing to trash a 6 month old for her benefit. She's playing the wounded sparrow right now, but she's cold and calculated and smarter than people are giving her credit for being."

Andre shook his head, "I don't think Tori is clever enough to destroy you. No offense to Tori."

Jade unbuckled her seat belt, "She is. She's trying to ruin my baby's life, and trust me when I say that there will be hell to pay because of it."

The two got out of the car and Jade walked around to the backseat to get Bianca out. She unbuckled her and gently lifted the baby out of her seat and settled her against her hip.

"Are you ready to see Mommy's old school Bianca?" Jade asked, walking towards the front door of the school. Bianca looked away and put her bear in her mouth.

"You might be going here one day, B." Andre said.

"That'd be interesting. Her parents are two famous alumni. And she would take this school by storm and be the best at whatever she wanted to do."

"You're extremely confident."

"I'm simply stating the truth. Bianca's genes assure that she's destined for greatness, no matter what she decides to do."

"Okay, I'll agree with that. But Bianca doesn't have to think about a career for a long time."

The three of them walked into the school and Jade felt at ease. It felt homey. This place and her mother's house are the only two places that gave her that feeling.

The hallways were extremely quiet, so class must have been in session. Everything looked the same. The lockers were decorated in a crazy and flamboyant fashion. There still was a Wahoo Punch vending machine towards the end of the hall. It looked just like it did when they were students.

"It feels good to be back here. It's been about what, 7 years?"

"Yeah, that's about right. We're going to see Sikowitz first?"

Jade nodded, "Yes."

They walked down the hall and towards Sikowitz's classroom. They could hear students talking through the door. They must be doing a scene.

"Something's going on in there. Should we wait?"

Jade rolled her eyes, and pushed the door open. There was a classroom full of students sitting down in chairs, and two students were on the stage located in the front of the room. Everyone turned around to see what the interruption was.

"Jade! That was rude." Andre scolded.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Aw, there you two are!" Sikowitz got up from his seat and smiled. "Long time no see." He took a sip from the coconut that was in his hand.

Jade looked her old teacher up and down, "Sikowitz. Still not wearing shoes I see."

"Shoes are overrated, Ms. West." Sikowitz looked at the baby in Jade's arms. "And who is this little one?"

"This is my daughter, Bianca."

Sikowitz grabbed Bianca's tiny little hand and shook it, "Hello, Bianca." He turned to his class. "Guys I want to introduce you to my former students Andre Harris and Jade West. And Jade's little nugget, Bianca."

"You're still a weirdo, Sikowitz."

"And you're still a sour taste, Jade. Don't ever change."

"Trust me. I won't."

"It's nice to have three of my favorite students back here at Hollywood Arts."

Jade's eyebrows raised, "Three? Who else is here?"

"Tori." Sikowitz replied.

"Tori's here?"

Sikowitz nodded, "She is in the blackbox theater giving a lecture about the music-" Sikowitz couldn't even finish his sentence because by the time he said 'theater', Jade had handed Bianca to Andre and was out the door.

Andre groaned, "Why did you tell her that?"

"What did I do? What's wrong?"

Andre said nothing more. He just gave Bianca to Sikowitz and followed after Jade.

Sikowitz looked at the tiny baby that was now in his hands. She was looking at him with wide and curious eyes, studying his face.

He lifted her up and they touched noses. "You're a fascinating little creature." Bianca grabbed on to Sikowitz's hair and tugged at it, hitting his head excitedly. The classed let out an '_aww'_ simultaneously.

Jade was walking as fast as her legs could take her. The heels of her boots were clicking harshly against the floor as she burst into the blackbox theater, interrupting Tori's lecture.

Andre rushed in to the theater, out of breath and panting, "Jade! Stop!"

The students turned around and saw Jade walking up to the stage where Tori was.

Tori rolled her eyes as she saw Jade coming her way. "Jade, what do you want? I'm in the middle of something."

Jade reeled back and slapped Tori hard across the face. You could hear the other people in the crowd gasp as Tori grabbed her throbbing cheek.

"Oh hell." Andre said.

"What the hell is your problem, you psycho bitch? You can't hit me!"

"Listen hear and listen good, Vega. You can take as many shots at me as you want, but don't you dare go after Bianca. I told you to leave her out of this."

"Well Jade I just told the world the truth. There would be nothing to drag your daughter in to if you would have never conceived a child with my fiancé."

"Do you even care that your brainless followers are attacking a innocent baby, Vega. You're the poster child for all things sweet and wholesome. Don't you think you should say something?"

"And why would I do that? Why would I do something to help you?"

"You're moving into dangerous territory. You don't want to play this game with me."

Tori took a step closer to Jade. The two were so close that their noses were almost touching. "Oh, Jade but I do. I want to play."

"I'm not a 16 year old girl anymore."

"Neither am I. You don't scare or intimidate me, Jade."

"This isn't high school, Vega. You may have America's sympathy for now, but you're transparent. I see right through this act of yours."

"When are you going back to New York? I liked you so much better when you were o the opposite side of the country."

"I think I might be sticking around for a while."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well my friends and family are out here. And so is Beck. I can't separate him from Bianca. They've fallen in love with each other."

"You've kept him away from his daughter before. I don't see how this is any different."

"Nah, I think I'm more of a California girl. My mom's place is great and all, but I'll be moving out and into my own place." Jade's eyes lit up. "Or maybe Beck would let me stay at his house."

"My house." Tori corrected.

"Beck's house. If my memory serves correct, you moved out. I'm sure Beck would be more than happy to let the mother of his child and daughter stay with him." Jade had no plans to move in with Beck. It was just way too much fun seeing Tori get pissed off. She spun on her heel and started walking towards the exit, Andre following behind her.

"Go to hell." Tori seethed.

"I've been already. The weather's great. I'll send you a postcard the next time I'm there."

"Lovely. I'll put it with the other things I don't care about."

"Fantastic!" Jade called out, waving behind her.

"What was that all about?"Andre asked, once the two were out of the theater and in the hallway.

Jade shrugged, "I've been wanting to slap Tori since we were 16. She's finally pissed me off enough for me to actually do it.

"Hitting her was uncalled for. Violence is never the answer."

"Sometimes words are lost on dense people." Jade pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

"Who are you calling?" Andre questioned.

"Tori wants to mess with me, so I'm going to mess with her."

"What does that mean?" Jade put a finger up to her lips to silence her friend.

"Hello?" A deep, masculine voice said on the other line.

"Dad."

"Jadelyn?" Jade's father, Richard said.

"Of course." Jade replied. "Do you have any other daughters named Jade?"

"No. It's just shocking to hear from you. You don't call me. It's nice to hear your voice."

"Yeah, I know. Look, dad I need you to do me a favor."

"Oh. Well what can I do for you, Jade?"

"It involves Tori Vega."

* * *

**Ooh what does Jade have in store for Tori? Knowing Jade, it'll be good and downright mean.**

**Happy Friday all! Have a great weekend! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

"Bianca, you see your daddy?" Jade cooed, turning her daughter around so she could see Beck. "Say hi daddy!"

The three of them were currently in New York City. Beck was there doing an interview with Robin Roberts for Good Morning America, and Jade and Bianca tagged along.

Beck looked up from his seat, "Hi Bianca." He held out his arms and Bianca practically jumped out of her mother's arms and into her dad's. He kissed her forehead. "Hi."

"You really want to do this?" Jade asked. Beck was really going to go on national television to talk about this huge scandal. She thought it was the dumbest thing on earth.

"Yes, Jade he really is." Rayna said, joining Beck's side. She gave Jade a once over and smiled tightly.

Jade didn't bother returning the smile. She knew Rayna did not like her. She blamed her for this whole fucked up situation.

"I just think it's stupid."

Rayna rolled her eyes, "Well Jade, not everyone has the same blasé attitude as you. And besides, Beck has fans who look up to him and are owed an apology."

"Whatever." You couldn't have paid Jade to go on national television and do this. The only person who was owed an apology was Tori, and even apologizing to her was hard for Jade.

A stage manager with a headset and a clipboard walked up to the group and smiled at Beck. "You're on in 5."

"Thank you." Beck got out of his chair.

"I can walk you to the stage if you want to."

"That'd be great actually." He handed Bianca back to Jade. "See you guys later."

Beck followed the stage manager onto the set where there were two seats.

"You'll be sitting here. Robin should be here in a second."

"All right."

The stage manager walked away and Beck sat down. He was feeling a bit nervous. In a few moments, he'd be on national television talking about his infidelity and love child. He didn't even know what type of questions he was going to be asked so it's not like he could mentally prepare himself.

"Beck?" Beck looked up and saw Robin standing up in front of him.

"Hi." Beck stood up to formally greet the woman.

"Nice to meet you." Robin extended her hand. Beck gave it a firm shake.

"Likewise."

Robin sat down, "You ready for this?"

"I'm as ready as I'm going to be."

"Nervous?"

"A little bit."

Robin sat down. Beck followed. "Once you start talking, it gets a bit easier. It's like you forget the cameras are there."

"Let's hope that I forget soon."

The stage manager's loud voice could be heard around set, "And we're on in 3...2...1!" She pointed to Robin.

"And we're back! Here with me now is actor, Beck Oliver. Hi Beck."

"Hi Robin."

"Now recently you have been in the news and media a lot. You are involved in a cheating scandal with your ex-girlfriend, Jade, and as a result, you fathered a child."

"Yes, that is true."

"Now Jade is the other woman in this situation. She's your ex. Do you think there is a reason as to why you cheated with her? Because there are plenty of women out there."

Beck shrugged, "Robin, to be honest, I don't think I can give you an answer. Maybe it was kismet."

"Kismet? That's how you would describe it?"

"Yeah."

"You've gotten a lot of backlash for this. Is there anything you would like to say to the people."

"I can't sit here and try to excuse my behavior, or justify it. It'd be pointless to blame anyone but myself for this. What I did was wrong. It was stupid and selfish. I'm sorry if I hurt or upset anyone who was unfortunately a causality of this chaos. I did not have the intent to hurt anyone."

"Your daughter, Bianca, is one of those casualties, right?"

"Right. Things don't really get to me, or Jade. We have thick skin and we can defend ourselves against people. Bianca is a 7 month old baby. She can't defend herself to the adults out there that think it is okay to attack her. It's disgusting actually. Bianca is innocent. She did not ask to be born into this situation. Jade and I were the ones who screwed up, not her. So for the people who are mad, they should not be mad at Bianca."

"What compelled you to tell Tori about all of this?" Robin asked.

"I did not like the idea of Bianca being my dirty little secret. I didn't want to have to sneak out of my house just to see my daughter. I felt like I owed it to Tori to tell her and she deserved the truth."

"How did she take it?"

"Not well. Not well at all."

"And how did you react after you found out that Tori made all of this public?"

"I think I was mostly in shock. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. But I was also felt a bit overwhelmed. Jade and I knew what the repercussions were, but like I said earlier, Bianca is also taking a lot of heat and that hurt the most."

"Are you and Tori still together?"

"No."

"Have you talked to her recently?"

"It's been a few weeks since I've talked to Tori. She doesn't want to talk to me right now, which is understandable."

"Are you with Jade?"

Beck shook his head, "No. Right now we are just two people who are still learning how to be parents."

"How is it, being a dad?"

"Great." Beck's face lit up, "Bianca is the best baby ever. She's so calm and cool. She's funny. She loves to laugh and smile."

"How is Jade as a mother?"

"Jade is amazing." Beck said truthfully. "When she loves someone, she gives them 100 percent of everything she has in her and its like she has given Bianca even more than that. She loves Bianca more than anything in the world and she loves being her mother. I really admire her parenting." And it was the truth. Considering how cold and mean Jade was in their high school years, he never pictured her having children. She was the most loving person on earth when she was around Bianca. But she was still Jade. She could still go for the jugular and tear you to shreds if needed. "She's a mama bear."

Robin smiled, "Mama bears are the best."

"They are."

* * *

"How do you think I did on the interview?" Beck asked, taking Bianca out of her stroller and putting her on his lap. "Was I okay?"

The three of them were situated in Serendipity 3, a restaurant that Jade had been itching to go to ever since they stepped out of JFK airport.

Jade grabbed her frozen hot chocolate and scooped some of the whipped cream off the top with her spoon. She put it in her mouth and gave Beck a nod. "Relax, I think you did a good job."

"Really?"

"I mean, as well as someone who's involved in a scandal can do."

Beck chuckled, "There had to be a condition on the compliment?"

"Yeah. I can't just had out compliments all willy nilly."

Beck looked out of the window. New York City was so busy. People shopping, having lunch, kids with their nannies, people hailing cabs. The hustle and bustle seemed overwhelming. And that was saying something considering he lived in Los Angeles.

Beck turned back to Jade, "Do you miss it out here?"

"Yeah, I do. I think it's one of the best cities ever."

"But..."

"But I'm a California girl. Nothing beats L.A."

"Do you ever see yourself coming back here?"

"Actually, that's what I want to talk to you about." Jade said. "I'm renting out my condo."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm going to be in Los Angeles. Permanently. I have all of my family out there." She shrugged. "And you and Bianca have gotten so close. I don't see any reason as to why she has to live on both sides of the country."

Beck couldn't help but smile, "This is the greatest news I've heard all day."

"Glad I could be the one to give it to you."

Beck pulled Bianca in closer to him, "Do you like the sound of that? You're going to be living in Los Angeles now." Bianca smiled. "She likes the idea."

"Good."

Beck grabbed a spoon and got some of the hot chocolate, "What's so great about this stuff anyway?"

"It's really good."

"I think you're exaggerating." Beck put the spoon in his mouth.

"Well?"

"Okay you were right. It's really good."

"I'm always right."

"You're so humble." Bianca reached up and tried to grab Beck's spoon. He moved it out of her reach. "Sorry. You can't have any of this. Mommy will kill me if I give you some."

Jade smiled, "And don't think for a second that I won't."

* * *

"Can you tell them that I'll have their song ready hopefully by Wednesday?" André asked his assistant, Nina as they walked into his studio.

"I can do that."

"I'll just have to lock myself in this studio was a coffee machine, my piano, and a notebook until its done."

"I think you can do it."

"Thanks Nina."

"You're welcome, Mr. Harris.

André opened the door to his studio and was surprised to see Tori sitting in there.

"Tori!" André exclaimed. "Hello."

"Hi." Tori greeted.

"I'll leave you two alone, Mr. Harris." Nina said, turning around and walking out.

André took a few tentative steps forward. "Hey you. You look...different."

Tori didn't have on any makeup. Her eyes were bloodshot, her clothes were wrinkled, and a cigarette was hanging loosely from her fingers. Tori rolled her eyes at the lame greeting. "Hey."

"I see you're smoking. When did that start?"

"Recently."

"You know, that's not really good for your image. Little girls and boys look up to you. And don't get me started on your health. You can get cancer or bronchitis. Did you know smoking can lead to wrinkles? I'll have-"

"Shut up!" Tori cut in. "Shut up and stop acting like you care about me."

André frowned, "What do you mean? Of course I care about you, Tor."

"You knew." Tori said.

"Excuse me?"

"You knew that Beck cheated on me. You knew that he was Bianca's father this entire time and you didn't say a word."

"Tori-"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Jade is my friend and she asked me not to tell anyone."

"So your friendship with her is more important than ours?"

"Tori, don't say that. You know that's not true."

"It is true! You let me make a fool out of myself for over a year. You let me stay in a relationship with Beck knowing that he had sex with Jade and that she was having his baby. You didn't think that I needed to know that?"

"I did."

"Well why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't my business to tell you. Last time I checked, I wasn't Beck or Jade. I can't go out dispensing information about their lives, Tori! And you think I like this?"

"Yes, I do. I think you enjoy being Jade's confidant."

"No, it's not fun. It's stressful. It's like I have a huge burden on my shoulders. It hurt not telling you and I begged Jade numerous times to come clean."

"It didn't hurt enough because you let about 15 months go by."

"Tori, I'm sorry. I never wanted you to get hurt."

"Are you in love with Jade?" Tori asked.

That question caught André off guard, "No, I'm not in love with her."

"Really? Because you jump through a lot of hoops for her."

"Tori she's my best friend."

"I thought that was me." Tori replied, softly. "If the roles were reversed, and I was in Jade's position, would you have told her?"

"I don't know."

"I think you would. You tell Jade everything." Tori stood up, "You and I used to do everything together. We were two peas in a pod. I don't know what happened. Maybe you feel a strong sense of loyalty to Jade because you've known her longer. Or because at one point at time, you had feelings for her. It just sucks to know that our friendship didn't mean that much to you."

"Tori, that's not what I'm saying."

"I should go."

André grabbed Tori's arm, "You don't have to leave."

"No, I got what I needed from this conversation."

Tori's cell phone rang. André let go of her so she could reach it. She dug into her purse and pulled out her phone.

"Who is it?"

"My manager." Tori answered her cell and put it to her ear. "Hi Kim."

"We have some problems."

"What?"

"Pepsi is dropping you. They're getting their lawyers to dissolve your contract as we speak."

Tori's heart dropped to her stomach. Her pulse quickened and her breathing became rapid. "Excuse me?"

"No one likes a bully, Tori and people are now saying that you said vicious and malicious things about Beck's daughter."

"Who?"

"Someone said that you were at a restaurant with your mother and you went on some tangent about Bianca."

Tori rubbed her temples. She remembered that night. Her and her mother went to dinner and of course Beck and Jade were brought up. "They're dropping me?"

"Yes. I've also gotten emails from Sears, and Wahoo Punch. They're pissed."

"They're overreacting."

"You can't go out in public and bash a baby. Do it in the privacy of your own home next time."

"Kim, this is the last thing I can handle right now. I am at my wit's end."

"All right. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay." Tori hung up. She let out a deep sigh.

André's brows burrowed in confusion, "What's the matter?"

Before Tori could even answer, her phone rang again. She answered this time, without looking at the caller ID. "What?"

"Tori, it's Jade."

"Jade, you are the last person I want to talk to."

"But what I have to say is really important."

"What is it?"

"My father is wealthy and very powerful. Do you know what that means?"

"No."

"It means that he has a lot of rich and powerful friends. Friends that are CEOs of company such as Sears and PepsiCo."

"Jade are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"First I had someone follow you to that restaurant so they could record you."

"You had me followed?"

"Yes. Then I had my dad take that recording to his friends. All he had to do was tell them how mean you were being to his poor daughter and you are thrown out like yesterday's trash. Just like that." She snaps. "You mess with me, I mess with you. But I gotta be honest, I've really outdone myself this time." Jade laughed. "I don't know how you'll top this."

"I hate you."

"That's too bad. I was hoping we could be friends."

"Not a chance."

"Aw shucks."

Tori was about to reply when she heard a voice. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. "Are you with Beck?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't Beck is New York?"

"Yes. I got to go. I keep forgetting that it's 3 hours ahead out here. And I want to get some sleep before Beck and I are woken up in the middle of the night by Bianca. Bye!" She hung up.

Tori squeezed her phone so tight that she thought her knuckles were going to turn white permanently. She then hurled it all the wall with all of her might before storming out of the studio.

André softly shook his head, "What did you do, West?"


	10. Chapter 10

"You're moving out?" Karen asked, not being able to help the frown on her face.

Jade looked into her cup of coffee and sighed, "Yes mom."

"But why? Why are you leaving me?"

Jade rolled her eyes at her mother's subtle manipulation, "This isn't about you. I'm not leaving you."

"This house is huge. You don't have to go anywhere."

"I'm 25 years old. I have a baby. I would like to have my own place."

"Where are you going? Are you going back to New York?"

"I'm staying in Los Angeles." Jade answered. "I'm going to find a condo or a townhouse somewhere close."

"I've gotten so used to seeing you and Bianca in this house everyday. Won't you just stay?"

"Mother, once Tyler graduates he will move back in with you."

"You can stay with me too."

"I'm going to buy you a puppy." Jade smiled. "Would you like that?"

"A puppy can't replace human companionship, Jadelyn."

"What about a Siberian Husky puppy?"

"Those are really cute."

"I'm going to get you one."

"Promise me that you'll visit me very often."

"I promise."

"At least twice a week. At least."

Jade sighed, "Mom-"

"Promise."

"I promise."

Karen smiled, "Yay. Now where is Bianca?"

"She's with Beck right now. I'm going to go over there in a minute."

"I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that she is his daughter." Karen said. "You want to know what's even more mind boggling?"

"What?"

"That you kept it from me for all this time."

"Mom-"

"I had to find out with the rest of the world. Jadelyn, I'm your mother not some random woman on the street. That hurts."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Karen asked.

"What was I supposed to say, mom? "_Hey, I slept with someone else's fiancé and I'm have his baby? I am the reason that they're not together anymore. I'm the home wrecker._"." Jade ran her hands through her hair. "How do I say that to you?"

"You've never had a problem voicing your opinion."

"I didn't want you to look at me like I was a disappointment. You are very vocal about your disgust for dad's new wife, and his adulterous ways, and I thought-"

"You thought I would do the same to you." Karen finished.

Jade nodded, "Yes."

"Jade you're my daughter. I love you and Tyler more than anything else in this world. I could never look at you like that."

"But-"

"But nothing. It was a mistake, and you actually feel or felt guilt about the situation. That's more than I can say about your father and that piece of trash he's sleeping with."

Jade chuckled, "I see where I get my personality from."

Karen rounded the island in the middle of her kitchen and gently cupped her daughter's face, "We good?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now how's the house hunt?"

"I may have already found a place." Jade said. "And there might be a 100 per cent chance of me buying it."

"Jade! Why are you in such a rush to leave me?"

* * *

"Bianca hasn't been any trouble for you, right?"

"No, she's been perfect like always."

"Really?"

"Yes. My mom came over and she and Bianca just hung out for hours." Beck held up a bag. "And Bianca has more toys than she knows what to do with."

Bianca crawled over to Jade, and she picked her baby up, "That's what grandmas are for."

"And all the rest of my family. My aunt came by yesterday and left so much stuff for Bianca."

Jade smiled, "Bianca's a lucky little lady."

"She is."

"I was doing some thinking last night. Since we're staying out here permanently, Bianca's going to need a place to stay when she's here."

"Like a nursery?"

"Yeah."

"That sounds like a plan."

Jade looked around the living room, "You could stand to do some decorating in here as well."

"What's wrong with my living room?"

"Did Vega decorate?"

"Yes."

"Thought so. It has no coordination or design."

"It's modern."

"It's ugly." Jade deadpanned, staring at the bright rugs and chairs. "It's like she picked up the first pieces of furniture she laid her eyes on."

"You think you could do a better job?"

"I know I can."

"My entire house would be black if I let you decorate."

"It would not. But it definitely wouldn't be so bright. I'd tone it down. And your kitchen. And your bedroom."

"My bedroom? Have you even seen my bedroom?"

"No, but I'm willing to bet that it is just like the other rooms in this house."

"It is."

"I know this."

"So how is the house hunt?"

Jade groaned, "The real estate agent was way too perky and she kept showing me houses and mini mansions. I told her I wanted a townhouse or a maybe a condo. Plus she was a bit rude to me, possibly because she's a fan of Tori."

"How'd you know that?"

"She had her CD in her car and was playing a song as she pulled up to a house. She's like 40. Do you know any other 40 something's listening to teenybopper pop music? Thank God André was there, or I would have said some very mean and inappropriate things to that lady."

"André went with you?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Jade sighed, "I think it's time that you stop giving André the cold shoulder."

"Jade..."

"Yeah he kept Bianca's paternity hidden, but he only did that because he loves me and I asked him to keep it a secret. You and André have been friends for too long to just stop talking."

Beck stayed silent.

Jade frowned, "You are more stubborn than you'd like to admit, Oliver. But André is your friend. And he's my friend. Can you imagine what's its like to be pitted against your best friends?"

"No."

"So give him a chance. For me at least."

"I'll think about it."

Jade shook her head, "I'm not accepting that. You two are going to kiss and make up and you're going to be friends again."

"Do I even get a choice."

"No."

"Like I said before, I'll think about it."

Jade locked eyes with Beck for a short while before sighing, "Okay."

"I have to go back to New York for a few days. Can you handle yourself without me?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? You won't get anyone, specifically my ex, fired while I'm away?"

"Tori deserved it."

"Can you stay calm for a few days, please? All I'm asking is that you control yourself for 4 days. I don't want to come back to World War III."

"Why don't you talk to Tori and tell her to take her crocodile tears and tweets and shove them-"

"Okay, that enough."

"You shouldn't have brought her up. I was in a good mood."

Beck rubbed his temples. Jade always knew how to give him a headache. "Tell Bianca not to miss me too much, okay?" He grabbed Bianca and kissed her forehead. "Don't miss me too much." Bianca laughed and put her face in Beck's neck. "I'm going to miss you enough."

"When you get back, your house is going to look completely different. If you don't want me to attack Tori, then I'm going to attack the tacky furniture she left here."

Beck scoffed, "Whatever you say."

"You don't believe me?"

"No."

"Okay."

* * *

Jet lag was a terrible thing. First Beck had to get up extremely early to check out of his hotel and then the flight was horrible. While on the plane, an old man fell asleep on him. Now that he was back home in L.A., all Beck wanted to do was get into his bed and sleep for a few days.

That wasn't going to happen.

He opened the door to his house and he was met with complete and utter chaos.

People were moving furniture in and out of his house, there were paint cans all over the floor, and on top of that, Jade was nowhere to be found.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Beck asked, stopping one of the movers.

"Your girlfriend is redecorating." The mover replied.

"My what?"

"Tall, brunette, pretty eyes, very intimidating and scary."

"Jade."

"Yes, that's her name! She called us a few days ago and said she wanted all of this furniture gone."

"Oh did she?"

Jade came into view, a paint roller in hand, "She did!"

"Jade, I didn't think you were serious about this."

"Well that's your problem. You didn't think."

Beck laughed. Jade was wearing what looked like one of her brother's college t-shirt, and paint covered overalls. Her hair was tied up in a bun with pieces of hair sticking out.

"Where's Bianca?"

"Upstairs with Cat. They're painting the nursery." Jade grabbed Beck's hand and pulled him towards the staircase.

"What color?"

"We decided on yellow."

"This doesn't look like yellow to me."

"What are you-" Jade gasped. The walls of Bianca's room were not yellow, but in fact pink. "Cat!"

"What?"

"Are you blind? This isn't yellow."

"I know."

"That's the color we chose, remember?"

"Pink is better than yellow."

"My daughter is not going to have a pink room."

"You got a place, you can paint Bianca's nursery whatever color you want."

"Jade you found a place already?"

"Yeah. I bought a condo."

"When?"

"A few days ago."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"But I agree with Cat."

"No one asked for your opinion!" Jade snapped.

"Bianca likes the room." Beck pointed to the baby who was sitting in her playpen. She had a piece of white paper with a tiny blob of paint on it, but most of it was on her fingers and toes.

"Bianca likes everything."

"That is true."

Cat handed Beck a brush, "Don't just stand there. Help us ladies out."

"It doesn't look like you need my help."

"More hands are always welcome, Beck."

"But I just got home."

"So?"

"And I'm really tired. My flight sucked and my trip was hectic."

Jade rolled her eyes, "Oh would you stop whining?"

"I'm not whining. I'm stating facts. And I'm not interested in painting."

"I'm Beck Oliver. I don't feel like doing anything and I don't want to mess up my perfect appearance by doing manual labor." Jade teased in a deep, masculine tone.

Beck swiped the brush down Jade's face, leaving a pink slash from her cheek to her chest.

"Beck!"

"What? I'm painting like you want me to."

Jade brushed Beck's face in retaliation. "Now we're even."

"No." Beck got more paint on Jade. "Now we are."

"No we're not! "

Cat silently watched as her two friends interacted. It reminded her of how they were when they first started dating in high school. She might even say that they were flirting.

She cleared her throat, "Okay guys. Less paint on you, and more on the walls."

Beck dropped the brush into an empty paint bucket. He reached down and picked Bianca up, "Hey. Did you miss me as much as I missed you? Huh? Did you miss me?"

"She missed you." Jade answered, trying to wipe off her face with the bottom of her shirt. "I think she's become accustomed to seeing you every day."

Beck smiled, "That's definitely an ego boost." He lifted Bianca up in his arms a bit more. "Come on, lets go unpack my suitcase and get you away from all of these paint fumes. Daddy also now has to wash his face." He carried Bianca out of the room.

Cat put her paint roller down and walked over to Jade, "Did you tell him that you redid his room too?"

"No."

"You think he'll be mad?"

"He shouldn't be mad at me. I got rid of all that horrendous furniture of Tori's. Plus this should be cathartic. Getting rid of all the stuff he bought with his ex-fiancée."

"Cathartic for him or cathartic for you?" Cat asked.

Jade smirked, "Does it matter? Tori's negative energy and ugly stuff is out of this house and there is no reason for her to ever come back. She has no more stuff here, she practically gave the house to Beck, she's gone."

"Jade!" Beck called.

"Yes?" Jade called back.

"Where's my bed? And all the other stuff I had in my room?"

"A storage unit downtown."

* * *

"André, thank you for helping me move in." Jade said, wrapping her arms around her friend.

"No problem. I'm happy to help."

Jade let out a sigh of relief, "It feels good to have my own place again. Not that I don't love my old house, but I love my independence more."

"How'd your mom handle you and Bianca moving out?"

"She cried a bit when she was here earlier."

"Are you serious?"

"Serious like a heart attack."

"Poor Karen."

Jade sat down on her couch, "She'll survive."

André sat down next to her, "So what's this I hear about you and Cat taking over Beck's house?"

"Who told you that?"

"Robbie. He said you guys spent like 3 days painting, and getting new furniture."

"We did. His house looks amazing now."

"I really love the boundaries set between you two."

"There has never been boundaries set."

"I know." André checked his watch and stood. "I have to go."

Jade frowned, "Why are you leaving already?"

"I have a dinner to go to."

"Can't you skip it?"

"No."

Jade stood up and hugged André again, "Okay. I'll call you later then."

"Great. Give my God daughter a kiss for me."

"I promise I will. Have fun."

"See ya."

Jade watched as André walked out of her condo. It was now just her and Bianca again. Even though she'd never say this to her mother, Jade would miss staying with her.

Jade's stomach growled. She was starving. Having such a busy week and all, the last thing Jade was thinking about was grocery shopping. She shouldn't have shooed her mother away when she offered to cook.

The doorbell rang and Jade took a few long strides to the door. "Who is it?"

"Special delivery."

Jade opened the door, and saw Beck. In his hands were a pizza box, cans of Budweiser, flowers. "Hi!"

"Hello. Can I come in?"

"Of course." Jade stepped aside. "Come in."

Beck walked in, "You're all moved in?"

"Pretty much."

"I have pepperoni and chicken pizza."

"You are amazing and your timing is even better. I was just about to order Chinese."

Beck handed Jade the flowers, "Stop, don't make me blush."

Jade grabbed the pizza box, "Bianca is down for the night, so she will not be joining us."

"That's too bad."

"I need to get my kitchen table out of storage, so I we'll have to eat on the floor."

"I don't mind." Beck looked out of Jade's floor to ceiling window. She picked a great condo with an even greater view. He sat down next to the window. "The view is amazing."

Jade sat next to Beck, "Yeah, and it cost me a fortune. But I think it was worth it."

"Me too." He held out a beer, which Jade accepted.

"Thank you. But I think I need something a bit stronger, like tequila. Or vodka."

Beck chuckled, "Moving will do that to you. Especially in the span of a few days."

"It does. I'm pretty exhausted." Jade snapped the cap on her beer and took a swig.

"Well when you're all settled in, I want to take you out."

Jade spit her drink out, "You want to do what?"

"That was way more blunt than I wanted to be."

"Yeah, it was. Being blunt is my specialty."

"I didn't mean you."

"You want to take someone else out then?"

"No."

Jade tensed up, "So it is me?"

Beck shook his head, "Not just you."

Jade's face scrunched in confusion, "I'm really lost right now."

"What I meant to say was that I want to take you and Bianca out to celebrate. As a family."

"So the three of us?

Beck nodded, "The three of us."

"Okay. I'd like that."

"Good."

"You're paying."

"Of course I am."

Jade visibly relaxed and her shoulders dropped again. She let out a silent sigh of relief. The thought of going out with Beck stressed her out and made her nervous.

But she didn't have to worry about that. Beck wanted to go out as celebration. They'd probably end up going to a park or some place Bianca would enjoy. It was not a date. Right? Oh Lord, she was going to need something _a lot_ stronger than the beer in her hand.


	11. Chapter 11

"I think you and Beck are going on a date." Cat told her best friend.

"It's not a date." Jade argued.

"He's taking you out, and he's paying. It's a date."

"No it's not. Bianca is going out with us too. It's supposed to be a family thing."

"Ever since I came back from my honeymoon, I've noticed the shift between you and Beck."

"What shift? There was no shift."

"You two have gotten closer."

"We're friends again. And we haven't been friends since we broke up all those years ago."

"But we all still hung out."

"It wasn't the same. We were pretending to be friends. It wasn't genuine. And right now, we are in a good place with each other and we need to be so we can raise Bianca."

Cat shrugged, "I still think its a date."

"Well it's not."

"What if it was? Hypothetically speaking of course."

"I don't know."

"You don't want to be with Beck anymore?"

"Cat we broke up 8 years ago. I wanted to be with him 8 years ago. Hell maybe I wanted him over a year ago, and at certain stages of my pregnancy, but I've grown up."

"What does growing up have to do with it?"

"I have a daughter to think about now. She's the most important thing in my life, not Beck."

"What if he told you that he wanted to try again? What would you say to that?"

Jade sighed, "Cat where is all of this coming from?"

"Like I said earlier, something seems different about you two."

"Nothing is different."

"Just so you know, I've always been a supported for you and Beck."

"Thank you Cat, but that's irrelevant."

Cat rolled her eyes at her friend. Everyone thought she was totally oblivious to things, but Cat wasn't stupid. Beck Oliver was Jade West's Achilles heel, whether she wanted to admit it or not. And knowing Jade, she probably never will.

* * *

Jade was feeling a lot of emotions. One of those emotions being pure frustration. Another one of them was fear.

Karen had taken Bianca out some hours ago, promising to be back at a reasonable hour. But that plan went out the window because the two were nowhere to be found, and Karen wasn't answering her cell phone.

Jade was on the verge of a panic attack. Since the day Bianca was born, she was always able to know where she was, and what she was doing. And now that she didn't know where she was, she was assuming the worst.

There was a knock at the door. Jade let a content sigh. It had to be her mother dropping Bianca off.

Jade opened the door and her smile faltered. It was just Beck, "Oh it's you."

"Hey." Beck greeted. He walked into the condo and closed the door behind him.

"What do you want?"

"Didn't we make plans?"

"I don't know where Bianca is." Jade said, dialing her mom's phone number again.

"What do you mean you don't know where she is?"

Jade started pacing, "My mom took her and now I can't reach them and I'm freaking out."

"Jade, you need to calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Jade ordered. "You calm down! What if something has happened to her, to them? We've never gone," She looked at her watch, "5 hours without communication."

Beck grabbed Jade's wrist, stopping her from moving. "Jade, stop pacing."

"Beck-"

"Sit down."

"No, I'm not going to sit down."

"Sit down." Beck repeated. Jade sat. "I want you to count to ten and take a deep breath."

Jade stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. She glared at Beck and he glared back at her. "Fine." She silently counted to ten in her head. It didn't change anything.

"Why don't you give your phone a break for a few minutes and give Karen a chance to call you back." Beck suggested. He took Jade's phone out of her hand. "I'm going to make you some coffee."

"I don't want any coffee. I just want to-" Jade was cut off by her phone ringing. She lunged at Beck to get it out of his hands.

"Jade relax."

Jade answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Jade, it's mom." Karen greeted. "You've been calling me."

"I called you 15 times and you haven't been answering."

"We'll I'm returning your call now."

"Mom, you can't take Bianca and not tell me where you're going, or when you are returning. Bianca and I were supposed to go out with Beck today in case you forgot."

Karen gasped, "Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot about that."

"Where are you?" Jade asked, not even bothering to acknowledge her mother's apology.

"I'm in Pasadena."

"Pasadena? Why are you in Pasadena? You live in the Hollywood Hills, so do I, and so does Beck. Why are you 40 minutes away? There is no reason for you to be in Pasadena!"

"My friend invited me over to her house."

"Is my baby okay?"

"Bianca is perfectly fine. I promise. She's taking a nap."

"When are going to be back out here?"

"I don't know yet."

"Mother, give me a time."

"A few hours."

Jade ran her hands through her hair, tugging at it in frustration. "Okay. Tell Bianca I love her."

"I will. I love you."

"I love you too, mom."

"We'll see you later. Bye."

Jade hung up. "So whatever you had planned for the day is over."

"I wanted to take Bianca to a play they were having in the park."

"Getting her into performing arts early."

"Never too young, right?"

"Of course."

"Well what was the play about? Maybe we could go see it."

"The Wizard of Oz. but the entire cast is nothing but kids."

"That doesn't sound too fun."

"Yeah because it's geared towards Bianca, not us."

"We can take her some other day."

Beck's stomach growled, "You want to get something to eat? I'm starving."

"Um...sure." Jade looked down at her outfit. "Just give me a second to change my clothes."

"What you have on is fine."

"Beck, I'm in yoga pants. I wouldn't dare go out in public looking like this. Give me 10 minutes."

"I'll see you in 30."

"Smart man."

* * *

Beck chose a Mexican restaurant in West Hollywood to eat it. It was extremely busy, and loud, and energetic. Jade could see drunk starlets getting harassed by paparazzi, celebrity couples running around town with their kids, starving artists playing instruments on the sidewalk. It made her realize just how much she missed this city.

"It feels like I haven't been out without Bianca in ages." Jade said. "With just another adult, talking about adult things. It's nice."

"You've become a full-time mommy."

"And it's the best job in the world."

"But eating Mexican food with me is great, too."

"It's all right."

Beck clutched his chest in mock pain, "Ooh that hurts."

A waitress came over to their table, a notepad and a basket of tortilla chips and salsa in her hands and a smile on her face. "Hi guy, my name is Alison and I'll be your waitress tonight. Can I start you off with some drinks?"

"Yeah why don't we start off with a few shots of tequila." Jade answered.

"Tequila?"

"Yes. And I'd like a chicken burrito, guacamole and sour cream on the side."

The waitress quickly scribbled that down and turned to Beck, "And what would you like, sir?"

"I'll have the same thing she's having, except you can put the sour cream and guacamole inside the burrito."

"Okay. I'll be right back with your drinks."

Beck watched as the waitress walked away. "You must be feeling pretty bold. You're getting tequila shots."

"I haven't had a tequila shot in a very long time. Ever since..." Jade's voice trailed off. She thought it would be awkward to bring up the night Bianca was conceived. "It's been a long time."

"I hope you don't get drunk off of one shot."

"You know I can handle my alcohol."

One hour minutes and about 6 shots later (Beck didn't know. He stopped counting.), Jade was drunk. Like talking nonsense, unsteady on feet drunk, wild and crazy drunk.

Beck checked the time on his watch. 7:30 PM. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and laid a $100 dollar bill on the table. "Jade lets go."

"I don't want to go home." Jade protested. She banged her fist on the table. "Hey can we get some more shots over here!"

"No shots!" Beck called, to no particular person.

"Don't be such a fuddy-duddy, Beck. Loosen up. Have another shot with me."

"I can't get drunk because I have to get us home. We can't both be drunk."

"We can call a cab. Or we can call one of our friends to pick us up."

"Jade, I don't want to get drunk with you."

"Come on. Why so serious?"

"We're gonna go." Beck grabbed Jade's hand and tried to pull her out of the booth. Jade slapped his hand away.

"Why are you being so grabby today?"

"Jade, I have to make sure you're under control."

"I'm 25. I know how to control myself, Beck."

Beck slid out of the booth and walked over to Jade's side. "Here let me help you."

"I don't need your help!" Jade snapped. "I'm not an elderly woman that you have to walk across the street."

Beck shook his head. Drunk Jade wasn't really fun. But he was sure drunk Jade would say the same thing about sober Beck.

He managed to coax her out of the restaurant. It took a lot of pulling, begging, and pleading, but they were standing on the sidewalk.

Beck dug into his pocket to pull out of his car keys, "Jade, come on." No response. He turned around and saw Jade walking towards a nightclub. "Jade!"

Jade turned around, "Beck lets go dancing! Dancing is fun."

"Let's dance some other time. I'm going to take you home."

"No let's dance now." Jade argued.

Beck ran over to Jade and was able to stop her before she entered the club. He put his arm around her waist and led her to his car. "I shouldn't have let you drink that much."

Jade scoffed, "Yeah. Let me. I don't need your permission."

Beck ignored Jade and opened the passenger door to his car. Jade slid in. He walked around the front of his car and got in the driver's seat. "Home you go."

"I don't want to go home."

"You have to."

"Let's go to your house! You live closer."

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Beck if I'm in this car for too long, I'll get sick and throw up on your lovely leather seats."

* * *

Beck pushed the door open to his house and before it was fully opened, Jade pushed him aside and barged in.

"Ugh, my feet are killing me."

"Sit down." Beck ordered, closing his front door and locking it. "I'm going to get you some water."

He walked into his kitchen and got a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. When he turned around, Jade's shoes and purse were in the living room, but Jade was nowhere to be found.

"What the hell, Jade." Beck walked over to her purse and grabbed her phone. He went through her contacts until he found Karen's phone number. He clicked 'call'.

"Hi Jade." Karen greeted. "Bianca and I just made it back and we're at my house."

"Karen, it's Beck." Beck said.

"Beck? Where's Jade and why do you have her phone?"

"Jade and I went out and she had a bit too much to drink."

"Where is she?"

"She's safe. She's with me. We're at my house right now."

"Do you need me to come get her?"

"No, I think she's going to just stay here and sleep it off. I'll take her home in the morning."

"All right. I'll just keep Bianca with me tonight. Thank you for calling me."

"No problem. Have a nice night Karen."

"You too."

Beck put Jade's phone back in her purse. "Jade? Where did you go?"

He noticed the light in his bedroom was turned on, so he went up there. "Jade?"

"Beck?" Jade called back, almost mocking him and his tone.

Beck didn't really know what he was going to walk into, but the last thing he expected was to see Jade stripping out of her clothes in his room.

"What are you doing?"

"It's so hot in here. Aren't you hot?"

"No. And you should keep your clothes on."

Jade unzipped her pants and wiggled out of them. "You have seen me in less than this more times than I can count, so leave me alone." She pulled back the duvet on Beck's bed and she got in.

"Jade this is my bed."

"It's so comfortable, right? You should thank me because I redecorated this place. I got you a new mattress, new pillows, a new duvet, these soft sheets. You're welcome."

Beck held out the bottle of water, "Drink this."

"I don't want any water."

"Drink it."

"I'm not thirsty."

"Fine." Beck put the water on his nightstand, not wanting to argue. He sat on the edge of his bed, facing Jade. "You'll want some water eventually."

"I won't."

He looked at Jade. Her face was flushed, her eyes were as red as tomatoes. She kept moving her hair out of her face. He ran his hand through her hair, pushing it out of her face.

Jade unconsciously leaned forward and closed her eyes. Beck used to do this all the time, when they were dating. They would just sit for hours, in silence. Beck would run his hands through her hair, she would hum under her breath.

Despite the alcohol clouding her brain, and making everything all fuzzy, she remembered the last time Beck did this.

_"I miss you. I miss everything about you. About us."__  
_

_"You're gorgeous."__  
_

_"I love you."_

Jade snapped out of her thoughts. She opened her eyes and forcefully pushed Beck away from her. "Don't touch me."

Beck gave Jade a confused look. A few seconds ago, he was dealing with a somewhat calm, happy drunk Jade, now he's in the presence of pissed drunk Jade. Where drunk people prone to random mood swings? "What's wrong?"

"I don't want you to touch me."

"Okay, I won't touch you."

"I'm serious."

Beck held his hands up in surrender, "I won't

"I hate you sometimes." Jade blurted out.

Now things were getting weird. "You hate me?"

"Yes."

"Can I know why?"

Jade pulled her knees up to her chest and rest her chin against them. "Because I loved you so much, Beck."

Beck's eyes widened. Where did that come from? "What?"

"I'm serious. I mean, I know we were kids when we started dating, but I was so in love with you."

"I loved you too, Jade."

"Really?"

"Yes really. Why would you question that?"

"Beck, how long were you attracted to Tori?" Jade asked.

This felt like a loaded question. Beck felt like he needed to tread lightly. Tori was a sensitive subject around Jade and he didn't know how she would respond with alcohol in her system.

"I don't know."

"Be honest with me."

"I mean, I thought she was pretty when I first met her, anyone could see that. I don't have an exact date for when I realized."

"Was it before or after we broke up?

"After I guess. We started hanging out more. I got to know her better."

"I don't think you know how much you hurt me. Like really hurt me."

"I didn't-"

"Let me talk. Please."

"Okay."

Jade stopped for a second to collect her thoughts. That wasn't an easy task given her current state. "You told me for two years that you love me. That Tori was nothing more than a friend. You say I'm overreacting and that I'm being paranoid, but you want to know what I saw?"

"What did you see?"

"I see you trying to come on to Tori at her house. Trying to kiss, talking down about me to make her okay with what you were trying to do."

"How did you-"

"Someone left their webcam on and I saw you." Jade explained. "Everyone always said that I was crazy, and possessive, and paranoid, and jealous but I was right about Tori all along. She was attracted to you. I knew that there was a tiny spark between you two and you proved me right. I may have been crazy, but you made it so easy for me to be crazy."

"Then, we break up after you decide to humiliate me by just blurting out, "I'm not happy in this relationship!" Then you wouldn't open up that fucking door for me. You just left me standing out there like I was some type of idiot. After 3 years of dating, I thought I deserved a better breakup, a better explanation. I went home trying to wrap my head around what happened. What I did. We argued. That was our thing and we always did that. Did we argue more leading up to the breakup? Sure, but if you were tired of it, you should have said so. I was physically ill after that because I would drive myself crazy trying to figure out what went wrong."

"And fast forward 6 years to Andre's birthday party. By the time I get there, Vega is nowhere in sight. You call me over to have drinks with you. We're laughing, we're dancing and it felt like old times. The party starts to wind down and we're drunk, you more than me. I take you to your suite and when I'm about to leave you ask me to stay. Your exact words were, _"Keep me company until I fall asleep_.". So despite the little common sense I had, I stayed. You started complimenting me, and saying how much you missed being with me, and how you wanted things to be the way they were. You did the hair thing, you even said, "I love you."." Jade closed her eyes, as if she were trying to picture that night. "You always had such a way with words, Beck, even when you were drunk. You knew just what to say and just like that," Jade snapped her fingers, "I was putty in your hands."

"Jade, I-"

"So we have sex and the next morning, I wake up and you're gone. You were nowhere in sight. How do you think I felt? I felt embarrassed and disgusted, so I got on the first flight into New York. Then I see you and Tori in magazines, and on television. She's flashing that huge engagement ring every chance she gets. I realized that you guys hadn't broken up, and that you cheated on her with me. You, Beck Oliver," Jade chuckled humorlessly, "are a master manipulator. You are able to lie with suck conviction, you are able to do things to me and I let you. I'm just the puppet. It's like you have such a strong hold over me and I can't stand it."

By the time Jade was finished, she was crying, her makeup was ruined, her nose was running, and she was a blubbering mess. Beck got up and went to his bathroom to grab some tissues. He returned and handed them to Jade.

It dawned on Beck that what André said was right. _"It was selfish of you to sleep with Jade and leave, because it kind of fucked her up, mentally and emotionally."_

"I don't know why it's so easy for you to disregard my feelings. I don't know why it's so easy for you to hurt me. Maybe it's because you think that despite all of this, I love you and I care about you, and I'll always come back." Jade shook her head. "I can't be that girl anymore; I'm not that girl anymore. I won't already be 10 feet in the air when you say jump. I deserve so much more than what you give me, but I accept it anyway and that's why I hate you. Was that a good enough answer?"

Beck crouched down on the side of the bed. He didn't want to get on the bed, in fear of Jade hitting him. He waited a few moments. Every time he opened his mouth, he was cut off by her and he didn't want that to happen again.

Beck felt guilty. He had never realized that Jade was harboring all of this anger and resentment towards him. When Jade didn't say anything else, he decided it was safe to speak. "I don't know what to say besides I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I can be selfish and stupid, I know. I didn't realize how much I was hurting you."

Jade looked down at Beck. He seemed genuine, he looked genuine.

"Well now you do."

"Can we move forward from this?" Jade shrugged. "Can we at least try?" Jade nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Good. You should get some sleep. You look exhausted."

Beck stood up and pulled the cover up on Jade. He turned off the lamp on his nightstand and walked out of the room.

* * *

When Jade woke up, the first thing she noticed was that her head was killing her. It felt like her brain was trying to break out of her skull. The second thing she noticed was that her mouth was dryer than the Sahara desert. Next she realize that she wasn't wearing pajamas, just her underwear. And she also noticed that she wasn't in her own bedroom.

"Where the hell am I?"

Jade slowly leaned over and saw her clothes on the floor. She reached down and picked up her shirt, trying to ignore the fact that she felt dizzy and sick.

The door opened and in walked Beck, carrying a cup of coffee and what looked like a bottle of Advil. "Good morning sunshine!"

"Why are you so chipper?"

"Because I think that it's fun to piss off hungover people."

"What happened last night?"

"You and I went out to eat, and you had 5 shots of tequila. And then you switched it up a bit and got some vodka."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Jade groaned, "Ew. Was I sloppy drunk?"

"You managed to walk in high heels without falling over. I think that's an accomplishment. But you tried to run away from me and go to a club." Beck gave Jade the coffee, and she took a hearty sip.

"Why don't I have any clothes on?"

"You took them off because you said it was hot. Then you got in my bed and I was forced to sleep in the guest room."

Jade put her face in her hands. She was absolutely mortified. "Oh my God. Beck, I'm sorry that you had to babysit me."

"It's fine. Why don't you put your clothes on and I can take you home."

"Can I just sit here for a while? My brain hurts and I don't feel like moving."

"Yeah." Beck put the Advil down. "I'll make you something to eat."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Jade watched as Beck started walking away, "Hey Beck?"

Beck turned around, "Yeah.

"Did I do anything or say anything while under the influence?"

Beck looked into Jade's eyes. He could tell she was already embarrassed at the situation. She had an anxious look in her eye. He didn't want to add onto that by saying she cried and spilled her guts to him about their relationship.

He shook his head, "No. No you were pretty much perfect."

Jade relaxed and a sigh of relief escaped her lips, "Good."

* * *

**Hello guys. How are you? How's your summer? Yahoo has succeeded in irritating me. I couldn't access my account and I didn't remember the answer to the security question which I made up 5 years ago, so I had to create a new e-mail address. While I was doing that, I decided to change the usernames to almost every account I have. Anyway, I hope you're having a better afternoon than I am. Read and review! xD**


	12. Chapter 12

"I'm still feeling a bit hungover." Jade groaned, leaning her head against the cool metal handle of the shopping cart she was pushing. "And it was like two days ago."

"How hard did you hit it?" Cat asked, pushing her own shopping cart.

The two friends decided to go grocery shopping together. Cat had been taking cooking lessons from her mother and aunts, and she wanted to cook a big meal for Robbie. And Jade was just sick of eating take out every night.

"Beck said I was drinking a lot of tequila and vodka. I haven't drank in a very, very long time too so that's an added factor."

Cat smiled and grabbed a plastic bag to put vegetables in. "We have to start you off with wine, then we'll give you the stronger stuff."

"I don't think I want to drink again. That entire night is gone, and I'm just getting flashes."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I think I was running on a sidewalk at some point. And then I was singing in a car."

"Next time you drink, we're going to videotape you."

"No, that would be embarrassing. We don't need proof of my belligerence."

"It'd be funny. We could show it at your next birthday party."

Jade shook her head. "No way." Bianca grabbed two fistfuls of her mother's hair and pulled. Jade lifted her head up. "Bianca, I love you, but mommy isn't feeling well right now and pulling mommy's hair isn't helping."

"Cute kid."

Jade turned around and saw a guy standing behind her. He was pretty tall, at least a six footer, he had short, dark brown hair and green eyes.

"Thank you."

"It's a shame she doesn't have your eyes. They're gorgeous."

That shocked Jade. "She gets her eyes from her father."

"Do you always skip over compliments that you receive?"

"Only the ones I get from strangers in grocery stores."

The guy extended his hand, "I'm Wyatt Robertson."

Jade looked at his hand and didn't shake it. "Jade."

Wyatt put his hand down, "Now we aren't strangers anymore."

"What are we then?"

"I would now say we are distant acquaintances."

Cat cleared her throat, gaining her friend's attention. "I'm going to get some milk. I'll be back."

Jade watched as Cat walked off, leaving her alone with this man. "I should go too."

"Nice tattoo."

"Excuse me?"

Wyatt pointed to Jade's arm, "Nice tattoo."

"Thank you."

"What's the story behind it?"

"I have no story."

"Come on. Every tattoo has a story."

Jade shook her head, "Not mine."

"Okay that means that you don't want to tell me."

"Because you're a stranger."

"Distant acquaintance." Wyatt corrected, smiling.

"My mistake. I'm sorry."

"How about we finish this discussion over lunch some time." Wyatt suggested.

Jade shook her head, "I don't think so."

"Are you married?" Wyatt asked. He looked at Jade's left hand, which was bare.

"No."

"I'm sorry, do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Then go out with me. At least for coffee."

"I do love coffee."

"Let's have some one day."

Jade sighed, "Fine. We can go out."

"Any place in particular?"

"I'm fine with anything. Except Nozu. I've been eating there consistently since I was 17 and I need a break."

"How about Cecconi's? It's out here."

"I know where it is, MapQuest."

"Feisty."

"Oh you have no idea just how feisty I can get."

Wyatt reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Can I get your phone number?"

"No."

"No?"

"If I like you enough, I'll give you my number. We can meet tomorrow at noon."

Wyatt smiled, "Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Bye." Jade walked away from Wyatt and found Cat standing in the frozen food aisle.

"Hey!" Cat greeted. "Should I buy strawberry ice cream or chocolate ice cream?"

"I don't know. Get both."

"Good idea." Cat grabbed both cartons of ice cream and threw them into her cart. "So who was that guy back there?"

"That was my first time meeting him. His name is Wyatt."

"I like that name."

"You like almost everything."

"That's true."

"He asked me out."

"Did you say yes?"

"I said yes."

Cat squealed, "Oh Jadey this is so exciting! When are you going out with him?"

"Tomorrow."

"Is he nice?"

"He seems nice, I guess." Jade shrugged. "We only spoke for a few minutes."

"He's pretty cute." Cat pointed out, playfully nudging Jade.

"He is." Jade agreed. She looked down at her empty cart. "Now, I don't want to talk about him anymore. We need food."

"Oh yeah. Let's go."

* * *

"Do you have plans for tomorrow?" Jade asked, turning to Beck. He was walking down the stairs, presumably coming from Bianca's room, a baby monitor in his hand.

"No. Why?"

"Because I have plans tomorrow and I need you to look after her for a few hours."

"Of course I'd look after Bianca. We always have a great time when we're together."

"Good."

"Where are you going?"

"Out?"

"Out where?"

"Beck why is this any concern to you?"

Beck sat down on a chair across from Jade and shrugged, "I'm just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Beck smirked, "Are you going to kill me?"

"No, I'm not going to kill you."

"Then my curiosity is fine."

Jade stood up and started pacing in front of the couch, "Beck, it's none of your business."

"Will Bianca be affected by whatever you'll be doing?"

Jade stopped for a moment to think, "Maybe."

"What do you mean "maybe"? Is it a yes or a no?"

"It's a gradual thing. I'll find out over time."

"What does that even mean?"

Jade rolled her eyes at Beck's persistence. "I have a date!" She blurted out, before she could stop herself. She didn't want to tell Beck, but she just wanted him to shut up.

Beck's eyes widened in shock, "Oh. Well why didn't you just say that?"

"Because it is none of your business."

"Who is the guy you're going out with?"

"His name is Wyatt and we met at the grocery store today."

"He's a stranger."

"So?"

"He's a stranger! You met him a few hours ago and you know nothing about him."

"Everyone is a stranger at some point, Beck." Jade pointed out. "Once upon a time you were a stranger, and we dated for 3 years and we have a daughter."

"But that's different."

"How? Enlighten me."

"We knew each other for a few months before I asked you out. We had classes together and we were in plays together. You got to know me." Beck explained. "You're basically picking this guy up off the street. You don't know this Wyatt guy. He could be a murderer or a rapist!"

"I took the same chance with you."

"I was 14."

"There are 14 year old psychopaths, Beck. But just leave me alone! I happen to be a very good judge of character."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. I've disliked Tori since the day I met her. It only took about 9 years, but her true colors were finally revealed." Beck rolled his eyes at Jade's example. "And this guy doesn't have my phone number, and he doesn't know where I live. We are meeting up at the restaurant and then we are going our separate ways. Relax, I know how to take care of myself."

"I know you can take care of yourself, but-"

Jade turned her head, "What?"

She had a look in her eye. It was a "Spit it out already!" look. He shook his head, "Nothing."

Jade eyed him skeptically, "Good. Can we move on now?"

"We can move on."

* * *

Jade checked her watch as she walked into the restaurant. 12:20 PM. She was late.

"Can I help you, miss?" A hostess asked, standing behind a podium.

"I'm supposed to be meeting someone here."

"What's their name?"

"Wyatt Robertson." Jade answered.

"We sat him a while ago." The hostess grabbed a menu. "Follow me."

The hostess led Jade to a table where Wyatt was sitting. He was reading a menu and drinking what looked like iced tea. "There you go."

"Thank you." Jade slid into her chair and grabbed the menu.

"Would you like a wine list?"

Jade grimaced. She didn't want to be near alcohol. "No thank you. Can I just get a glass of water?"

"Yes. I'll be right back." The hostess walked away.

Wyatt looked up at Jade and smiled, "I was getting nervous. I thought you stood me up."

"I am on my daughter's schedule and she was being extremely clingy today which is odd."

"How so?"

"She didn't want me to leave her and she was crying. That only happens when she's sick. I had to stay with her until she fell asleep."

"What's her name?"

"Bianca Olivia West."

"How old is she?" Wyatt asked.

Jade was a bit taken aback. Wyatt seemed genuinely interested in Bianca. On some of her previous dates, the guys ran like a bat out of hell when she mentioned Bianca. "She is 7 months old."

"She's young."

"Yeah."

"Is her father still around?"

That also shocked Jade. It seemed like everyone in America knew about her and Beck. She laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Bianca's father is Beck Oliver."

"The actor?" Jade nodded. "Really?"

"Yeah. Have you been living under a rock for the past month or so?"

"I've been in London, so I haven't been paying much attention to what goes on out here."

"You live in London?"

"Part time. I own a few clubs out there and I have been busy with that."

"Are you from Los Angeles?"

"Originally, but I've lived all over. What about you?"

"I was born and raised in the Hollywood Hills."

"Have you been here your entire life?"

"No. When I was 18, I moved to New York to go to school. I just bought a condo out here a few weeks ago. I came out here for my best friend's wedding a month ago, and I have not left."

"I love New York."

"Me too. Manhattan is a great city, but in my opinion, nothing beats L.A."

"What did you major in when you were in college?"

"I majored in English and my minor was creative writing."

"So you're a writer?"

"Yeah. I've written plays, movies, short films. I've been writing since I was a child."

"You're lucky. You have always known what you wanted to do and you loved it. I majored in business and I hated it."

"Why didn't you change majors."

"Because my father would kill me, but once I graduated, my friends and I traveled, we settled in London, and then we opened a club."

Jade frowned, "My father was livid when he found out I wanted to do performing arts for a living. He thought it was some little hobby."

Wyatt could already tell by the change in Jade's demeanor, that her father was a touchy subject. He decided not to push it.

"Well if you ever want to go away..."

"I'm going to have to go to London and visit your club."

"Please do."

"I better get VIP treatment."

"Of course. All the pretty ladies get special treatment."

Jade rolled her eyes, "You're really corny."

"So I've been told."

* * *

"You were with Jade when she met this Wyatt guy right?" Beck asked Cat. She was at his house spending time with Bianca.

"Yeah. He called Bianca cute and they just started talking.

"Did he seem like a nice guy?"

"I guess. I walked away and left them alone, so I didn't get a read on his personality."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"I'm just wondering."

"Why?"

"Because I would like to know who Jade is keeping company with."

"How is that any of your concern?"

"Lets just say that those two get serious, hypothetically of course."

"Okay."

"What if I don't like the guy?"

"That's really pushing it because Jade hates Tori."

"We aren't together anymore, but we aren't talking about Tori right now. If this guy and I don't click, that's going to cause all types of hell."

"You mean more hell than you're going through already?"

"Possibly."

Cat groaned, "That sounds horrible."

"Prepare yourself, red. There's a 50% chance of that happening."

Cat reached down and picked Bianca up, settling the baby on her lap. "Beck you know absolutely nothing about this guy and I feel like you hate him."

Beck scoffed, "I don't hate him."

"Why are you working yourself up into such a fuss over this guy?" Cat asked. "You have been talking about him and Jade ever since I got here and I really want you to be quiet."

"Sorry."

"Are you...jealous?"

"No."

Cat eyed Beck, not fully believing him. "You wanna know what I think?"

"You're going to tell me anyway."

"Correct. I think that you have gotten used to having Jade all to yourself. You, her, and Bianca have this...family of sorts. You've gotten comfortable in this."

"Maybe I have, but I'm not jealous."

_I don't believe you_, Cat thought. She sighed, "Fine."

* * *

"Beck?" Jade called out, walking into Beck's house.

"I'm in the living room."

"Hey." Jade greeted, spotting Beck on the couch with Bianca. She held out her arms."Give me my baby."

Beck handed Bianca to Jade. The baby was extremely happy to see her mother. She gave her a big smile and affectionately touched her face.

"She missed you."

"I missed her too." Jade kissed Bianca's face. "So much."

"How was your date?"

"My date went better than imagined."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's really nice, like really, really nice.

"Like Cat?"

Jade chuckled, "No one is as nice as Cat. He's a little corny, but I can handle that."

"What does he do for a living?"

"He owns some clubs."

"Are you going to see him again?"

"I think so. We exchanged numbers and he said he'd keep in touch, so we'll see where it goes from there."

"Good for you. When will I get to meet him?"

"Not for a long time, Beck."

"Why not?"

"Because we went on one date, and that would be weird."

"So? I have accepted weirdness into my life. It comes with living in Hollywood and being a celebrity."

"Well I haven't. That good enough for you?"

"_I deserve so much more than what you give me, but I accept it anyway and that's why I hate you. Was that a good enough answer?"_

What the hell was that and where did it come from? Was that something else from the Jade Is Blackout Drunk Train Wreck? It seemed like the most significant memory she's had. She squeezed her eyes and tried to remember something else. Nothing.

"Jade? What's wrong?"

Jade sat down, "Nothing. I was just thinking about something."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay."

"You sure?"

"Positive."


	13. Chapter 13

"And yes, I'll admit, I am jealous. I'm jealous of every minute you spend with him, of every concerned expression you send his way, of every tear shed, of every glance, every touch, and every thought. I want to rip him to pieces and purge him from your mind and from your heart. But I can't."  
― Colleen Houck  
~

_One Month Later_

This thing with Wyatt was moving much faster than Jade had expected. Going into this, she made a plan to keep him at arm's length. She wanted to test the waters before they got serious, but it felt like she was on an express train to Relationshipville. And the scariest part of it all? She didn't mind one bit.

He's easygoing and fun, qualities that Jade had been missing in her life for quite a while. She didn't have to hold her breath in fear of messing the relationship up. Wyatt was probably the only person in Hollywood who wasn't engrossed in the Tori/Beck/Jade endless cycle of drama. He knew what she did and didn't harp on it. And for that, she was thankful.

"Do you want some coffee?" Jade asked, turning around to face Wyatt.

"I've already had two cups."

"So? You can never have enough coffee."

Wyatt laughed, "I've had enough. I'll pass."

"You sure? I happen to make great coffee."

"I'm pretty sure."

A phone rang in the background. Jade stepped away from her coffee maker. "That's me. I'll be back."

She walks out of his sight, down the hall and presumably into her bedroom, leaving him alone.

He turned his head to the right and saw a stack of books on top of a table. The looked mostly like magazines and random novels, but he also saw what looked like a yearbook. He gently pulled it out from under the stack of books.

It was big, bold and colorful. The words 'Hollywood Arts 2011' were in big letters in the center, surrounded by a ton of pictures of various people.

Wyatt flipped to the back of the book to see who signed it. He noticed that all of the people who signed, had written in black pen or black permanent erase marker.

_Queen of darkness, don't think that I have forgotten about all the stuff you did to me. I'll get you back next year. Or you can make out with me. Later hot stuff.__  
__Rex_  
_  
__"I love you so much. So, so much. Can I have a lock of your hair?__  
__Sinjin Van Cleef._

_Jadey! I'm going to miss you so much! Even though we'll see each other all the time during summer break. Promise me that we'll hang out every day, kay? I'm not going to let Beck hog you all summer. We can have a sleepover at my house or we can go to the beach or we can go visit my brother and his friends at his hospital. He likes when I visit. I love you tons. xoxo__  
__Cat._

_Hey, Jade. I'm sorry we didn't get to hang as much as we used to. I have taken the role as Tori's friend. I promise that we'll have some good ole Jade and André time this summer.__  
__André H._

Wyatt noticed that there was an entire chuck of the page blacked out with marker. He could only assume someone that Jade couldn't stand who had written there.

He turned the page and saw that there was almost an entire page taken up.

_I've decided to reserve this entire page for myself. I probably won't write on the entire thing, but it's mine so NO ONE else can write on it, just like you told me about my yearbook.__We've had such a crazy year together. We've been through fights, break ups, make ups and everything else in between. Even though you are known to overreact at times, and you did, that's one of the things I have grown to love about you. You're wild and passionate about things and people you care about. You put 110 per cent into everything, good or bad. I adore that about you. I know your stubbornness and persistence is going to help you be extremely successful.__I'm so glad it's summer. We're going to have a great time this year. I have a lot of things for us to do, babe, whether you want to or not. We can't be holed up in my RV or your room all the time. ;)__I love you forever and always, Beck.__P.S. Have you seen my red and black flannel? I could've sworn I let you "borrow" it. I want it back, West!_

Wyatt closed the book and put it on the coffee table. He knew a bit of Jade and Beck's relationship. From what Jade told him, it was really...intense, especially for such a young relationship. But Jade struck him as an intense person, even though she claims that she is a lot calmer now.

Jade walked back into the living room, her cell phone in hand. "Sorry, that was my mom."

"It's okay. Was it something serious?"

"No." Jade entered her kitchen and turned off her coffee maker. She opened the cabinet to get a coffee mug. "She just suffers from empty nest syndrome."

"I think my mother has that. My dad got her a cat."

"I was thinking of getting my mom a dog." Jade admitted, laughing. "Great minds think alike."

"Apparently."

The doorbell rang a few times. "I'm coming!" Jade yelled. It was a pet peeve of hers when people rang a doorbell more than once. It was obnoxious and annoying.

She walked to her front door and opened it, Beck and Bianca on the other side of the door.

"Hey." Beck greeted.

"Hi. Come in."

Beck stepped inside. "Bianca fell asleep on the car ride home. She's been hanging with me all day."

"Okay." Jade gently got the baby from Beck's arms. She also grabbed her diaper bag. "I'm going to go put her down. Come in for a second."

Beck walked inside the condo and closed the door behind him. Wyatt stood up to greet him. "Hi, I'm Wyatt."

Beck extended his hand and Wyatt gave it a nice, firm shake. "Beck."

"Nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you."

"I don't think I can say the same."

A look of surprise crossed Wyatt's face, but it quickly disappeared. He sat back down. "Oh. That's too bad."

Beck walked into the kitchen and spotted the fresh pot of coffee. He grabbed a mug and helped himself to a cup. "Yeah it is."

Wyatt sat quietly and observed Beck's movements. He didn't really understand the relationship between Beck and Jade, but he thought it was odd that Beck made himself so comfortable in Jade's home. His exes would look at him like he was a crazy person if her ever did that. Maybe sharing a child changed the rules.

Beck made his way to the couch, sitting as far away as possible from Wyatt. "Sorry, was I interrupting anything when I came in?"

"Not really. Jade was making coffee, and she was showing me some of the stuff she's written over the years." Wyatt answered, pointing to the various notebooks on the coffee table.

Beck felt a tiny pang of jealousy. Jade usually kept her personal writings just that, personal. He was the only person who had ever seen them. Not anymore.

"Jade's a great writer." Wyatt offered up, trying to start a conversation, as well as be civil. He knew Beck was giving him the cold shoulder.

Beck nodded, "Yeah she is. She's a great actress and she has an amazing voice, but writing is definitely her thing."

"I didn't know she could sing. I'll have to get her to sing for me."

"Good luck. You can't make Jade do anything."

Wyatt shrugged, "She doesn't seem as...apprehensive when she's around me. Maybe I can get her to do it."

Bam. Second feeling of jealousy in the span of a few minutes. "You guys must be pretty serious."

"I mean, as serious as we can be for two people who been together for about a month."

"Well Beck, I don't know what you did, but Bianca is out like a light. She didn't even move when I took her out of her shoes or coat."

"My mother came over to my house, bearing a ton of gifts for her grandchild, and then we went to the park."

"You've had a busy day."

"And it's not over. I have a dinner to go to with Rayna and one of the casting directors of a movie I'm up for." Beck looked at his watch and stood. "And I should get going."

Jade smiled tightly. She walked over to the front door and opened it for Beck to leave. "Tell Rayna I said hello."

"I will." Beck turned his head slightly and gave Wyatt a small wave. "Nice meeting you."

"You too."

"I'll see you later, Jade."

"Bye."

Beck walked over to Jade. He leaned down and gave her a quickly kiss on the side of her forehead, directly above her temple. Before Jade's brain could even react to what just happened, he was gone.

_What the fuck just happened?_, Jade thought.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Beck asked, staring at his now ex-best friend. "I don't remember us having plans. In fact, I don't remember talking to you in the past month."

André rolled his eyes, "I came here to talk to you."

"I'm not in the mood André."

"I don't care. Jade said and I quote, "You and Beck need to stop acting like petty high school girls and make up."."

Beck's lips turned up into a tiny smile. That sounded like something Jade would say.

He sighed and gestured to his living room, silently offering André a seat, "You're in my house. You might as well talk."

"I'm only going to say this one time. I'm sorry. You're one of my oldest and closest friends and the last thing I wanted to do was jeopardize that by keeping Jade's secret but-"

"You were stuck between a rock and a hard place." Beck finished.

"Exactly. Look, when I came to see Jade in New York," André sighed, "she was a wreck."

_"Jade?" André called, knocking on the door to her apartment. "Are you home?"_

_"The door's unlocked." _

_André opened the door and saw Jade sitting in the middle of her living room, crying.__"What's wrong?" André shut the door behind him and quickly strides towards Jade_

_.__Jade didn't say anything. Her cries only got louder and more hysterical.__"I'm pregnant." Jade announced._

_André sat down next to Jade, "Like, with a baby?"_

_Jade rolled her eyes, "Yes, like, with a baby."__"How?"_

_"Because I had sex with someone, André! Are you always this dense?"_

_"When did you find out?"_

_"I took a test a few days ago and it came back positive, but I didn't believe it, so I took a blood test at the hospital. My doctor called about 15 minutes ago confirming it. She says I'm about a month along."_

_"I didn't know you were seeing someone."_

_"I'm not. It was a one time thing."_

_"You're not a one night stand type of girl."_

_"Beck's the father." Jade added, wiping the tears off of her face._

_"No he isn't."_

_"Excuse me?"_

_"He can't be the father."_

_"Your party last month." _

_André's eyes widened, "You guys slept together?"_

_Jade nodded, "We were drinking. Tori wasn't there and I thought...I thought they were over."_

_"She wasn't feeling well, so she left." André explained._

_"I didn't know. And the next morning after it was all said and done, Beck was gone."_

_"He went back to his house, the one that he shares with Tori, his fiancée."_

_"I know this now! I didn't know it then, but if I did, the I wouldn't be in this situation right now. I know I fucked up big time, André but I really don't need you to get on my case and beat me up about it."_

_André's eyes softened. He wrapped his arms around his crying friend. "I'm not going to beat you up about this. I promise."_

_"I don't know what I'm going to do."_

_"We're going to get through this. I got your back."_

_/_

"Look I know that you got hurt in the grand scheme of things, but I told her I'd stand by her. And if I had to do it all over again, I probably would."

"I know."

"And I told her repeatedly to tell you. I did not want Bianca to grow up without her father."

"Yeah, Jade and I talked about it not too long ago."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know. I guess I just didn't want to be the first one to make a move."

André laughed, "Jade is right. We are being petty high school girls."

"Yeah." Beck agreed. "And I'm sorry too. I was being stupid."

"So we're over this?"

"Oh yeah."

"Good." André sighed. "I don't know how girls can be in fights for so long. It's exhausting."

"It's because the girls we know are stubborn." Beck replied, all the tension and animosity he felt toward André melting off of him.

"That's true."

Beck walked into his kitchen and grabbed a beer out of his refrigerator. "So have you met Jade's boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I met him last week. We all went to dinner."

"What do you think of him."

"He seems cool. He didn't say or do anything that raised any red flags."

"I met him yesterday."

"And?"

"Their relationship is going really fast."

"Yeah, but Jade really likes the guy."

"It feels like it's too good to be true. When she talks about him, it almost sounds like he isn't real."

"Beck, no one is perfect."

"But he seems as close to perfection as you can get."

"Do _you_ like him?"

Beck knew he couldn't just say no without a good reason. He'd come off as a jealous ass. But he didn't want to like Wyatt.

"The jury is still out on that one." Beck decided.

"If it eases your mind, he treats Jade great. You can tell that he is absolutely smitten with the girl."

It did the complete opposite, in fact. He didn't want this guy to be head over heels for Jade, and he didn't want Jade to be head over heels for him.

"That's good to know."

* * *

Beck impatiently kicked on Jade's from door. He had his arms full of Bianca's things and he was going to drop them if Jade didn't open the door.

The door swung open and revealed Wyatt. Beck's face fell. "Oh. It's you."

"Sorry to disappoint." Wyatt stepped aside. "What brings you by?"

_None of your fucking business_, "I am dropping off things for Bianca."

"She's not here." Wyatt informed him.

"I know. She's staying with my parents until tomorrow evening."

"Jade's not here either."

Beck put the toys down on the coffee table, "I don't care."

"You sure about that?"

Beck turned around, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Beck I'm not stupid." Wyatt started.

"I never said you were."

"So lets not insult my intelligence during this conversation, okay?"

Beck folded his arms across his chest, "What are you talking about?"

"It's weird that you and Jade have no boundaries. You call each other at odd hours of the day, you stop by randomly-"

"I don't stop by randomly, okay. We have a daughter and my visits here always have something to do with her."

"You like to linger around. Make yourself coffee, make small talk, kissing her in front of me. It's grossly inappropriate. She's with me. It needs to stop."

"Wyatt, listen to me carefully." Beck ordered, gently, as if he were talking to a child. "Jade and I have nothing going on."

"Good."

"Wyatt it's clear that you have some hard feelings towards me."

"Yeah because it's clear that you have feelings for my girlfriend."

"Look, you don't know a thing about me. You barely know Jade, and you most certainly don't know our history."

"I'm sorry, did you just say _history_? I think that was the operative word. You're over. Whatever you two had in high school is now long gone."

Beck smirked, "If what we had was "history", you wouldn't be so shaken up by my presence, Wyatt."

"Leave Jade alone."

"You're so insecure." Beck noted. "I hope you've enjoyed your relationship, because you and Jade won't last much longer."

"We're going to last. Jade really likes me and I really like her. She says I'm so different from you. And I'm glad because the things she's told me about you are kind of harsh. Why don't you just walk away? You had your chance, a few chances actually, and you blew it. So let it go."

Beck took a step closer to Wyatt, "I wanted to like you because I thought I was being biased, but I just really don't like you."

"The feeling is more than mutual."

"And Jade is going to realize that this is ridiculous. You're not the guy that she wants."

"And you are?"

Beck shrugged, "Maybe. Thanks for wasting my time with this conversation, Wyatt."

* * *

Beer? Check. Comfortable couch? Check. Mindless television? Check. Being really bored on a Saturday night? Double check.

While Jade was off doing God knows what with her God awful boyfriend, he was at home watching crappy reality television, alone. And it sucked big time. If this is what jealousy felt like, he'd have to apologize to Jade for all those years that they were together.

His doorbell rang once. He looked over his couch towards the door, "Just a second."

Beck rolled off of his couch and trudged to the door. He looked through the peephole and saw Jade. He looked at his watch. It was 11:49 at night. What was she doing at his house so late at night?

Beck pulled the door open and before he could even open his mouth to greet Jade, he felt the palm of her hand connect with his face in a cold, hard slap.

He grabbed his stinging left cheek. "Jade! What the hell is your problem?"

Jade rushed into his house, "I leave my condo for 20 minutes to get Chinese takeout and in that very short amount of time, you manage to have a fight with Wyatt?"

Beck sighed and closed the door, "Jade-"

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"He started it."

"Is that your defense? Are you a 7 year old girl?"

"I was dropping off the stuff my mom bought for Bianca, minding my own business. He said something, I replied, and it was like a domino effect."

"He said that you told him that we wouldn't last long."

"I said that." Beck admitted.

"What possessed you to say something like that?"

"It was the truth."

"You've been acting so weird lately. What's wrong with you?"

"I haven't been acting weird." Beck argued.

"Yes you have. Now I don't know what's wrong with you, but you need to stop it."

"I just don't want you with him."

"Why not? Nothing is wrong with him."

"Jade, let it go."

"No. I'm not going to let it go. You don't like Wyatt and he hasn't done anything for you to-"

"He isn't me."

Jade was stunned into silence. She shook her head vigorously, refusing to believe what she just heard. She had to be imagining it.

"What?" Was all Jade could muster up at the moment.

"I don't like him because he isn't me, and you're with him."

"No." Beck took a step closer to Jade, and she pushed him away. "No! You don't get to say stuff like that to me."

"You wanted the truth, right? There's your truth."

Jade didn't want this. She wasn't expecting this. "How dare you! You don't just get to decide that you want me back out of the blue."

"Jade-"

"I like Wyatt. He is like a breath of fresh air. He doesn't care about my past, he genuinely likes Bianca." Jade listed. "He's just a good guy."

Beck shook his head, "You're not in love with him."

"We just started dating! And who says I'm in love with you? I've grown up. I'm not 17 anymore, I've moved on from you."

"Bianca wouldn't be here today because she is living proof that we haven't moved on from each other. You and I are not done with each other."

"That was 17 months ago. Like I said before, I've moved on. I'm not hung up on you anymore. You're too late. You should've did this a long time ago. You picked Tori. When you woke up that morning and decided to go home to her, you made it blatantly clear that you picked her. You have just had some sort of grand epiphany and decided that you wanted me back. I am not going to drop everything because Beck Oliver made a choice."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it took me so long to say something and come to my sense, but I can't stand to see you with some other guy. I can't stand knowing you're with someone else."

"Too fucking bad." Jade threw her hands up in the air. "You think it was easy knowing that you were with Vega? It felt like I was getting punched in the stomach every time I saw you with her, every time I saw a magazine with you two on the cover, every time you were on television. But I sucked it up. I didn't go to Tori and act like a complete ass.

"Give me one good reason as to why you and Wyatt should be together."

"I don't owe you an explanation, you arrogant asshole."

"Humor me."

"I feel comfortable around him. I don't feel the need to tread lightly in fear of being dumped."

"You don't feel comfortable around me?" Beck asked, taking another step towards Jade. She took two back. They repeated the process until Jade was trapped in between Beck and his couch.

"No. I feel vulnerable around you."

"Vulnerability is a good thing."

"You're so manipulative. Only you would wait until I was with someone else to pull this stunt. Only you would pull the rug out from under me and do this." A tear fell from her eye, which she angrily wiped away. "It's not fair."

"Jade it's not fair that you're lying to yourself."

"I'm not lying to myself."

"How long are you going to do this? Are you going to convince yourself that you want this guy?"

"You pompous asshole. Don't assume that you are the only man on earth that I could ever be happy with."

Beck reached down and cupped Jade's face with his hands. He wiped her eye with the pad of his thumb. "I'm not assuming anything. There is only one person that you are meant to be with. I'm that person."

"You need to stop."

"What if I don't want to stop?"

"You have to."

"Do you want me to?"

Jade spent years trying to put an emotional wall between Beck and her heart. He got to her once before, but she was _not_ going to let it happen again. "I can't do this with you."

"Can't or won't?"

"I can't." Jade leaned forward so her head was pressed against Beck's chest. "You have caused enough emotional damage and I don't need any more."

"I'm not trying to emotionally damage you. We're not teenagers, we're not to drunk people having sex in a hotel room, I'm not in a relationship. We're just Beck and Jade."

"I'm in a relationship."

"So?"

Jade removed Beck's hands from her face and slid away him. "I need to go."

"Don't."

She ignored Beck and got to the door with lightning speed. "Don't call me unless it has something to do with Bianca."

Before Beck could even protest, Jade was gone. And even though the truth was out, things were more fucked up than ever.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello readers! I guess in the process of writing this chapter, I decided that enough was enough. 13 chapters of Beck and Jade being platonic is enough time, right? So without further ago, I present you this chapter. xD**

/

"You've been quieter than usual." André pointed out, turning to his friend. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me."

"Jade, you can't lie to me."

"Sorry. I've just been thinking about a lot of stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Stressful stuff."

"Spill it."

"Beck wants me back." Jade blurted out.

"Relationship wise?"

Jade nodded, "Yes."

"Are we happy or are we sad?" André asked, not really knowing how to respond.

"I'm confused. I'm in a relationship, and out of nowhere, Beck decides that he wants to try again." Jade ran her hands through her hair. "Who does stuff like that?"

"Guys are stupid. We do stupid things. Trust me."

"He got into an argument with Wyatt, and now Wyatt is mad at me."

"Why is he mad at you?"

"He says I'm not setting boundaries with Beck and that we have an inappropriate relationship, and he won't stand for it. We have been arguing about it nonstop for the past couple of days."

"Oh."

"Do you agree with him?" Jade asked.

"Yeah."

"André!"

André shrugged, "What? I agree with him. You and Beck sometimes defy logic."

"How?"

"Two "normal" people," André put air quotations around the word normal, "who are raising a child together and are not dating, do not hang out and get drink together. They do not go out without their child."

"We're friends, or we were at least."

"The lines for you two are warped and blurred, Jade, and I don't even think you see it."

"Nothing is warped or blurred." Jade argued.

André looked at Jade knowingly, "I rest my case. You just proved my point Jade. You don't see anything wrong with the relationship."

Jade huffed in annoyance. Okay maybe André did have a point. She and Beck had gotten extremely...comfortable recently. And maybe from the outside looking in, she and Beck might have looked something like a couple. God, she hated when other people were right.

"What do you suppose I do?"

"That depends."

"I mean, Wyatt would love it if I cut Beck out of my life completely but I can't do that."

"Do you want to do that?"

"No. Bianca needs Beck."

"I didn't ask about cutting him out of Bianca's life. Do you want him out of your life?"

"It's the same thing."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is." André sighed at Jade's stubbornness. "You and Beck don't have to weave this dysfunctionally, tangled web through each other's lives for him to have a relationship with his daughter."

"Are you saying no more friendship for Beck and I?"

"I'm saying you don't have to do that. You just don't need to be so comfortable around him."

"I think I need to stay as far away from Beck as possible, without jeopardizing his relationship with Bianca, because I can't be around him. He has made his feelings for me clear." Jade wished everything could be that simple. Keep Beck at an arm's length. Her chest tightened just thinking about it. "Why couldn't he do this a year and a half ago? Why did he decide to wait?"

"Sometimes it takes people a while know what they want."

"Well, you know what they say." Jade pushed her hair out of her face, and tucked a strand behind her ear. "Time waits for no man."

There was a cry heard over the baby monitor and Jade quickly reached for it. She stood, "I need to go check on my baby. I'll be back."

André sighed. Once again, his friends were in some sort of mess. He didn't really know how this would work out, but Wyatt was being foolish for giving Jade an ultimatum. Jade West didn't do what anyone wanted her to.

* * *

"Sweetheart, you look troubled." Pam noted, looking at her son. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing ma." Beck replied.

"I'm your mother. I know you're lying to me."

"I'm just trying to sort through some things." Beck answered.

Pam grabbed a few lemons out of a fruit bowl sitting on the kitchen counter and put them on a chopping board. "Work stuff?"

"I wish."

"Ooh, that sounds bad. Is my granddaughter okay?"

"Bianca is perfect, as usual."

"Then I don't know what you'd have problems with."

"It's...relationship stuff. I think."

"Are you are Tori talking to each other again?" Pam asked, slicing one of the lemons in half.

"Nope."

"Oh, so there's a new girl in the picture?"

"Not exactly."

"Honey, what does that mean?"

"It's Jade."

Pam got so surprised, she accidentally squeezed a lemon wedge into her face. "Ah!"

"Mom!" Beck quickly got off of the bar stool he was sitting on and rushed to his mother.

"Get me a wet paper towel or something."

Beck grabbed a few paper towels off the counter and turned on the sink faucet. He ran the paper towel under the water for a few seconds before turning the faucet off and wringing it. He handed it to his mom. "Here you go."

"Thank you. You need to stop dropping bombs on me while I'm in this kitchen, Beck."

"Sorry."

Pam moved away from the kitchen counter, "You and Jade are together again?"

"No."

"Then what's going on?"

"I would like for Jade and I to be together again." Beck admitted.

"Really?"

"Yes." Pam sighed. "I know you have an opinion, so let's hear it."

"You know how I feel about Jade or felt about her."

"Felt?"

"You say that Jade has changed and I believe you. She gave me my gorgeous little grandbaby. When she dropped Bianca off the other day, she didn't have that same negative, sadistic, off putting attitude."

"Yeah, she's grown up. And she has a new guy in her love so..." Beck shrugged.

"Oh. Bad timing."

"And I told her how I felt, and she wants nothing to do with me."

Pam frowned, "Oh baby, I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around Beck.

"Not your fault."

"But if it's meant to be, it will be. If she's for you, you two will find your way to each other. I promise."

Beck didn't say anything. He just wrapped his arms around his mom.

* * *

Jade shuffled around her condo, picking up the toys scattered around the living room floor. She didn't know an eight month old could be so messy.

Her phone let out a shrill ring and it disrupted the peace. She dropped the toys and turned towards the phone. Jade turned to the sound and grabbed her phone. Wyatt's name popped up.

In all honesty, the last thing she wanted to do was talk to him. She had too much shit in her mind to sort through.

"Hi Wyatt." Jade greeted after answering the phone.

"Hey."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm packing."

"Packing? Where are you going?"

"Back to London. I'm going to be out there for about a month. What about you?"

"Trying to clean. I just dropped Bianca off."

"With her dad?"

"With her grandma." Jade corrected.

"Oh. Have you talked to Beck?"

"I haven't."

"Good."

Jade rolled her eyes. Wyatt was being a bit overwhelming with this whole Beck thing. Almost every single day, he would harp on the subject of Beck and it was getting exhausting.

"Wyatt-"

"Have you thought more about what we were talking about?"

"How could I not think about it?" Besides Bianca, Beck was constantly on her mind.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. And let me tell you this, Wyatt. You constantly pestering me isn't going to speed anything up."

"I just don't like the guy, Jade. And I don't like that he has feelings for you, whether he wants to admit it or not."

What Wyatt didn't know was that Beck did admit them. "I'm a big girl."

"Why don't you and Bianca come to London with me."

Jade laughed, "You can't be serious. You want me to run away with you and take my baby daughter to another country? On another continent."

"Yeah."

"No." Jade shook her head. "Beck would never go for that. I'm not going for that."

"You care a lot about Beck's feelings."

"This is our daughter we're talking about. What if he calls the police and says I kidnapped her? And besides, she doesn't even have a passport."

"We can get her one."

"You are moving so fast. I'm not going to London with you. My daughter isn't going to London with you. You want me away from Beck, but it's not that simple."

"It is that simple, Jade." Wyatt argued.

"It's not. Wyatt, what you don't seem to grasp the fact that Beck isn't just some random ex-boyfriend. He is the father of my child and he is too big a part of my past and my present and my future to just cut everything off with him. I can't do that."

"Jade, a part of me thinks that you don't want to do that."

"And if I don't?" Jade challenged. She needed to know if Wyatt would be able to be a big boy and co-exist with Beck if he was in this for the long haul. "Don't make me choose between you and Beck, because I don't think you'd like the choice."

"I'll call you later."

"Don't bother."

"What does that mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Don't bother." Jade repeated. "You have become this controlling, overbearing, suffocating man and I am not looking for that, Wyatt."

"Fine Jade. I don't want to be on this roller coaster ride with you and Beck. Figure your shit out-"

"I can't figure my shit out without you breathing down my neck!" This wasn't normal. This wasn't fun. They are way too new in this relationship to be arguing like this. Jade was supposed to want her boyfriend, not tolerate him. And he wasn't supposed to be testing her patience like this. "I thought you were different. I thought you were easy going and nice to be around, but everyone's true colors come out eventually, right?"

"Bye Jade."

And with that, the conversation was over. And she didn't know if it would be their last. But at that moment, she didn't care.

It took her a moment to realize. She sat down on the couch in silence after angrily slamming her phone down. Did she really just do that? Did they break up?

Jade almost picked up her phone and dialed Wyatt's number. A part of her wanted to just apologize and ask him to move on. But she didn't.

Jade stood up and walked into her kitchen. There was a pot of coffee sitting on the counter. Coffee was great. And dependable. Unlike the rest of the mess her life was in.

She grabbed a mug and poured some coffee into it. She took a sip. "Mmm, I love you coffee. You never fail me. Or profess your love for me. Or try to control me. You're just amazing."

She wandered around the kitchen aimlessly. There were pots and pans that she had to put up, baby bottles that she had to wash, and alcohol that she had to give away. She did not want to drink anymore. At least, nothing that wasn't wine.

Jade picked up the bottle of Don Julio tequila that André got her as a housewarming gift and smiled. They got really drunk off of it on her 21st birthday and it had been their favorite ever since. But tequila made Jade do stupid things. Like get drunk and have a one night stand with her ex, or get drunk and fall asleep half naked in said ex's house. Just as Jade was about to put the bottle down, a memory suddenly popped into her head."

_"I love tequila!" Jade professed, raising her shot glass high in the air. _

_"Don't you love tequila?"_

_"I like tequila." Beck nodded.__"Why don't you have some?"_

_"I don't want to." Beck lowered Jade's hand. "Why don't you stop. You've have enough tequila."_

_"You know what?"_

_"What?"_

_"You are right!" Jade laughed. "I've had enough." She saw a waitress and waved her hand in the air, trying to get her attention. "Excuse me! Waitress!"_

_"Jade, lower your voice!" Beck hissed.__The waitress turned around and walked over to their table. _

_"Yes."_

_Jade pointed to Beck, "He says no more tequila, so do you have vodka?" _

_The waitress nodded, "Yes we do."_

_"Do you have Ciroc?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Great, give me a shot of that please."_

_Beck shook his head, "Don't give her anything."_

_"Don't listen to him. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. I'll take a shot of vodka please."_

Jade shook her head. She felt embarrassed. Getting drunk in public was tacky in her opinion.

_Jade turned around, "Beck lets go dancing! Dancing is fun."_

_"Let's dance some other time. I'm going to take you home."_

_"No let's dance now." Jade argued._

_Beck ran over to Jade and was able to stop her before she entered the club. He put his arm around her waist and led her to his car. "I shouldn't have let you drink that much."_

_Jade scoffed, "Yeah. Let me. I don't need your permission."_

_/_

_"What are you doing?"_

_"It's so hot in here. Aren't you hot?"_

_"No. And you should keep your clothes on."_

_Jade unzipped her pants and wiggled out of them. "You have seen me in less than this more times than I can count, so leave me alone." She pulled back the duvet on Beck's bed and she got in._

_"Jade this is my bed."_

_"It's so comfortable, right? You should thank me because I redecorated this place. I got you a new mattress, new pillows, a new duvet, these soft sheets. You're welcome."_

_/_

_Jade snapped out of her thoughts. She opened her eyes and forcefully pushed Beck away from her. "Don't touch me."_

_Beck gave Jade a confused look. A few seconds ago, he was dealing with a somewhat calm, happy drunk Jade, now he's in the presence of pissed drunk Jade. Where drunk people prone to random mood swings? "What's wrong?"_

_"I don't want you to touch me."_

_"Okay, I won't touch you."_

_"I'm serious."__Beck held his hands up in surrender, "I won't."_

_"I hate you sometimes." Jade blurted out._

As soon as the memories came, they were quickly ripped from her mind. The last one threw Jade for a loop. That memory was seemed heavier than the previous ones. It piqued Jade's interest in a way that the other ones did not. Where did it come from? What was the follow up to her revelation? She needed to talk to Beck.

* * *

The ride to Beck's house seemed like a blur. Jade got there fast. She quickly got out of her car and rushed to the front door. Her nerves were too frazzled and she couldn't even go through her purse to find the spare key Beck had given her. She forcefully rang the doorbell, ringing it so many times, she thought her finger was going to fall off.

Beck swung the door open and Jade could tell by the look on his face that he was very annoyed. "Who the hell is-oh. It's just you, ringing my doorbell like a maniac."

"I need to talk to you."

"Bianca isn't here."

"I know. She and my mother are having a slumber party."

"You said you didn't want to talk to me unless Bianca was involved."

"I know what I said."

"Is something wrong with Bianca?" Beck asked, a look of concern flashing through his eyes.

"No."

"Then goodbye." He tried closing the door, but Jade stuck her foot in the doorway just in the nick of time. "Jade."

Jade pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Beck sighed and closed the door, "Sure come in."

"Remember the night I got drunk and I had to crash here?"

"Yes."

"What did I say to you?"

"What?"

"I said something, and I've been getting bits and pieces of what I said. It was more than me saying I want to go clubbing, or I like tequila. Something big. What was it?"

Beck sighed. Jade really wanted to have this conversation right now? Knowing Jade, this conversation could either go fairly well or horribly wrong. He'd go with the latter of the two.

"You started talking about us."

"Us?"

"Yeah. You were talking about how in love with used to be and how much you hate me."

"I hate you?" Jade scoffed. "I didn't say that."

"You said I hurt you when we broke up. You felt like you were owed a better break up."

Jade was about to butt in, but she quickly closed her mouth before speaking. What Beck said was the truth. She did feel that way.

"Go on."

"You told me how hurt you were when you saw that I tried to kiss Tori. You said you were humiliated after our one night stand."

Jade stayed silent, trying to process what Beck was saying to her. It was all true.

"What did you get out of lying to me?" Jade questioned. "I asked you if anything happened and you lied. You said I was perfect. Did you not think I would want to know this."

"Jade, you woke up hungover, half naked in my bed. You were mortified. I couldn't add on to that by admitting that you spilled everything to me." Beck took a step towards Jade, wanting to close the gap between them. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"Apology accepted." Jade mumbled, looking down at her shoes.

"Is that all you wanted to know?"

Jade shook her head softly. She looked up into Beck's eyes, "Do you love me?"

"Jade..."

"I'm serious. Do you love me?"

"Why are we playing this game right now? Are you trying to hurt me?"

"Beck, this isn't a game! And no one is out to hurt you. It's a yes or no question."

"Why?"

"Just answer me, dammit!" Jade ordered, her voice rising. "Please."

"Yes! Yes, Jade, I love you." Beck admitted. He and Jade were practically forehead to forehead. Jade was almost positive that Beck's heavy breathing and her extremely rapid heartbeat were the only things that could be heard throughout the house. "I am in love with you. I will never love someone as much as I loved you! Is that what you wanted to hear? You gonna go and tell your boyfriend? Are you two gonna laugh at how big of an idiot I am? Why did you feel the need to rip that out of me?"

Jade knew she shouldn't have answered. She knew it was dangerous and risky, but she didn't care. She was too far gone. "I needed to know. I needed to know that breaking up with Wyatt was a sound decision."

Beck's eyes widened, "You two broke up?"

Jade nodded, "He wanted me to distance myself from you completely and I couldn't do that. I need you in my life." She confessed, shocking even herself. It seemed like her brain just stopped and her mouth was just moving. "I need you." There was no way in hell she could ever pick Wyatt over Beck and she hated it. She hated the intense hold Beck had over her.

"Jade-"

Before Beck could finish forming the sentence in his brain, Jade had slammed her lips onto his. He felt like this was all an extremely odd dream and he would wake up right at that moment. But that didn't happen.

He put his hands on Jade's shoulders and gently pushed her away. "Wait a minute, Jade. You just broke up with your boyfriend. You are all over the place."

"But I'm not all over the place." Jade protested. She leaned in closer to Beck. "I'm here. I'm with you."

"I don't-"

"I get it." Jade slowly backed away. "I'm sorry, this was a mistake." She her hand over her face. "I'm going to go. Let's try to forget that just happened." Maybe if she left _right_ now, she'd be able to maintain at least some of her dignity.

She spun on her heel and headed for the door, silently scolding herself.

Beck grabbed Jade's wrist and pulled her back to him. His hands went to cup her face. "Are you drunk?"

"No. I'm trying to cut back on my alcohol intake, but liquid courage sounds great right now."

He smirked, "Good. Neither am I."

Beck pulled Jade in for a kiss, which she quickly responded to. His hands moved down to her waist, while hers went to his hair.

He realized he was wrong. The conversation didn't go wrong. It went incredibly right. He didn't know if this was his smartest decision. He didn't know if what he and Jade were doing was a good idea. He couldn't imagine what people would say. But it didn't matter.


	15. Chapter 15

The sun was not Jade's friend in the morning. It was harsh, especially in her condo where she has windows, not walls. So it surprised her when she opened her eyes and saw curtains and blinds shielding her from the harsh sunlight. She wasn't in her condo.

Jade shot up quickly. She wasn't in her condo. She was at Beck'a house. And she was naked. Oh shit. She turned slightly to see if he was next to her. He wasn't, but she heard a commotion in the kitchen.

She looked around and saw clothes scattered around the room. She groaned. Great. Now she had to find her clothes.

Jade wrapped the sheet around her frame and slid off of the bed, searching for any article of clothing that she could find. Her underwear were on the other side of the bedroom, her pants were near the closet, and she had no idea where her shoes, shirt, or bra were located. She'd have to figure that out later. In the meantime, she just got her underwear and slipped those on.

"Now where did those pants go?"

"Why are you talking to yourself?"

Jade jumped and turned around. Beck was standing in his doorway with two mugs in his hands. Jade huffed. Beck had on clothes. Well pajama bottoms, but it was more than what she was working with. She was scrambling around like an idiot.

"Not really talking to myself. I was thinking aloud."

"Oh. Is that what we're calling it now?"

"I'm serious."

"Were you try to leave me?" Beck asked, frowning. He held out a coffee mug which Jade grabbed. "I made you coffee. Black with two teaspoons of sugar."

"I wasn't trying to leave you. I was trying to find my clothes." Jade explained, wrapping the sheet tighter around her. She set the mug down. "Have you seen my shirt?"

"Uh," Beck reached down and picked up a red and grey flannel button-down shirt, "I don't know about your shirt, because I think this is my shirt."

"No it's not, it's mine." Jade argued, snatching the shirt out of Beck's hand. She flipped it over and looked at the tag. Men's size medium. "Okay it was yours, but it's been in my possession for about 10 years, so I own it now." She flipped the shirt over again and sighed. All of the buttons were missing and it had a slight tear. "There are no buttons."

"Huh. Maybe that's why there's a ton of buttons on my staircase."

"I need a shirt, Oliver."

"Okay, I'll get you a shirt."

"And not the shirt you were wearing last night. That's so cliché."

Beck sighed dramatically, "Beggars can't be choosers."

"Just get me one!" Jade ordered.

"Why don't you drink your coffee, cranky pants." Beck suggested. He walked over to his closet. "Or go back to sleep and wake up again."

Jade grabbed the cup and took a sip of the coffee. Beck always made really great coffee. She always told him that if acting didn't work out, he would always make a great barista.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a shirt being thrown at her face. "Is this how you treat every lady you sleep with? You throw shirts in their faces?"

"Only you. You're special."

"Oh I feel special." Jade tugged her head through the hole in the shirt and pushed her arms through. "You have this...charm that makes the most unchivalrous thing special."

Beck sat down at the edge of the bed and smiled. He knew he and Jade would never be the type to have to cliché mushy morning after like in the movies. They wouldn't be Beck and Jade if Jade wasn't a complete pill without coffee in the morning, and a little bickering took place between them. "You want to start this morning all over?"

"Nah, I think I'm good."

"Really?" He grabbed Jade by the waist and pulled her down next to him. "We could pretend to wake up again, stare into each other's eyes, and say," Beck took a deep, dramatic breath, "Hi."

Jade groaned, "Gross. I'd rather die. You've become a softy in my absence."

"You're calling _me_ soft, Mommy?" Beck teased.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm calling you soft."

"You're one of the mushiest people I know. Having Bianca did you a world of good. And the rest of the world in fact."

Jade smirked. Did Beck forget all about Tori, and her career and reputation that was sinking faster than the Titanic? Yeah, that was a Jade West original. "If you think for one second that I still can't make someone cry with so much as a glare, you are sadly mistaken Beck Oliver."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. I'm still Jade West and I can still kick your ass."

"There isn't a doubt in my mind that you can't."

"Good."

Beck rolled over and sat up against his pillows, "I think we need to talk."

"Ugh! I can already feel my mood dragging down with those words."

"I'm serious."

"Yeah, I know." Jade sighed. "So talk."

"Jade what are we doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just broke up with Wyatt. You came here out of the blue and we just hopped into bed together."

"Thank you for the play-by-play Captain Obvious."

"I'm just saying, are you really going to get into another relationship? Do you think that's a good idea?"

"I think we shouldn't rush this. We don't need labels or titles."

"So we're going to do this?"

"I'm in if you're in."

"I'm in too."

"Good."

"Good. But we should set some guidelines or something."

"Okay, I'll bite."

"I don't want our relationship to be like it was in the past." Jade said. "That was exhausting."

"Really? Jade, I'm pretty sure I said that throughout our entire relationship."

"Well I'm saying it now."

Beck rolled his eyes. Leave it to Jade to take credit for something for something he's been saying.

"I don't want us to be the same either." Beck stuck out his pinky. "So I promise not to make you jealous and to have your back 100 per cent, no matter what."

Jade smiled and interlocked her pinky with Beck's, "And I promise to try not to get jealous and overreact."

"Baby steps."

Jade slapped Beck's arm, "Have a little faith in me."

"I have faith in you."

Jade felt confident about this newly restored relationship. They weren't 17 years old anymore and she had done a lot of growing up, especially in this last year. And she definitely wasn't the same jealous, insecure girl who constantly needed assurance from Beck. Besides, if Beck even thought of stepping out of line, she'd bust his balls.

"Good."

And they sealed the deal with a kiss.

* * *

"Did you have a nice time with your grandma?" Jade asked, handing Bianca a bottle. "I'm sure she enjoyed your company because she was sad when you left."

Jade put Bianca down in her playpen. "So Daddy and I decided to give this relationship thing a go. How do you feel about that? Are we doing the right thing?"

Bianca took the bottle out of her mouth. She crawled to the corner of the playpen and grabbed one of her toys.

"I mean, he and I really care about each other. And he and I really, really love you so that's a bigger bonus." Bianca lifted her arms out for Jade to pick her up. Jade obliged. "And tomorrow, we're supposed to be going to the beach, What do you think, baby?"

Bianca gurgled happily in reply. She looked up into Jade's eyes and flailed her arms.

"I think you're okay with it."

The doorbell rang a few times. Jade stood and hoisted Bianca up on her hip. "Who is it?"

"It's Cat."

Jade walked over to the door and opened it, revealing her red headed best friend, "Jadey! Bianca!"

"Hi Cat."

Cat kissed Jade's cheek and walked inside the condo, carrying a grocery bag.

"What are you doing?"

"Robbie and André are working late, so I want to cook for you because it's too quite at my place."

"Oh." It still shocked Jade that Robbie became a songwriter with André. She knew he had a knack for coming up with lyrics on the spot-save that dumb glass song-but she always thought he'd have a ventriloquist act or something. "What are you making?"

"You want chicken or steak?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Okay." Cat walked to the kitchen. "I'll make chicken. You want pasta?"

"Pasta is fine."

"Want a salad?"

"Sure."

"I have been cooking my tush off lately. I should've become a chef. I could've had my own show like Rachael Ray."

"Beck and I are together again!"

Cat stopped moving around the kitchen and looked at Jade. "What?"

"Beck and I-"

"I heard you, but I don't...I just...what?" Cat huffed. "Aren't you with Wyatt?"

"We broke up."

"When?"

"Yesterday afternoon."

"And when did you and Beck get back together?"

"Yesterday night."

Cat quickly walked to the other side of the kitchen and sat down. Jade sighed. Maybe she had sprung this on her friend too fast. She probably should've talked to André first.

"Oh Jadey."

"Are you upset?"

Cat shook her head, "No! No, I'm not upset, but this is just a lot to take in at once. I feel like my head is going to burst open."

Jade shifted Bianca to her other hip and sat down across from Cat. "Sorry, I just needed to tell someone. I told Bianca, but she thinks everything I say is funny and she can't talk back."

"I'm glad you told me." Cat had a grin on her face that stretched from ear to ear. But her face fell.

"Cat what's wrong?"

"I was just thinking about Tori." Cat replied.

"Were you thinking about me when Tori and Beck got together?"

"Of course! Jadey, I'm always on your side, but I just can't help but feel bad for her. They were together for two and a half years."

"And Beck and I were together for almost four if we're going to start keeping score."

"We're not."

"Okay."

"So why did you and Wyatt break up?"

"We just weren't right for each other." Jade explained in a nutshell. She knew Cat would be overwhelmed with all the little details.

"Are you happy right now?"

"Yeah, I'm happy right now."

"Then that's all I care about. As long as you and Beck are happy, I'm happy." Bianca smiled. "And Bianca's happy! Yay!" The baby clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Bianca's always happy."

"But she has extra reason to be happy. Her Mommy and Daddy are together!" Cat squealed. "This is so exciting."

"Ugh, Cat don't do that squealing thing."

"Don't ruin this for me."

* * *

"I can't believe you made me drive all the way to Malibu."

"It was an hour drive, you big baby." Jade replied, taking Bianca out of her car seat.

"We could've went to Venice beach. It's a thirty minute drive."

"I don't like Venice. It's too full of people and it's touristy."

"What made you want to go to the beach?"

"This will be Bianca's first time at the beach. I want this to be a joyous occasion. Venice stresses me out."

"Like the time we got stuck in my RV?"

"We vowed to never mention that again!" Jade hissed, hoisting her beach tote higher on her shoulder.

"Sorry."

They walked over to a quiet part of the beach, where there wasn't many people which made Jade happy. She didn't want Bianca's first beach experience to include drunk people, annoying tourists, crappy boardwalk performances, and chaos.

Jade put Bianca on it. "Okay Bianca, we have to cover you up. I don't want you to get sun burn."

She squeezed a tiny amount onto the palm of her hand and rubbed it on Bianca's arms and legs.

"None of her face?"

"Nope." Jade reached into her bag and pulled out a big floppy hat. "This hat will be perfectly fine." She put the hat on Bianca's unruly curls. "There you go baby. Beck, take a picture of us."

"So bossy."

"Just take the picture."

Beck dug into the pocket of his shorts for his cell phone. "Okay smile ladies." He quickly snapped a picture. "You two are adorable."

Jade pulled off her flip flops and put them in her bag. She readjusted the straps on the dress she was wearing and glared at Beck. "Call me adorable again and I break your jaw."

"You're so violent. Besides, I wasn't even calling you adorable. Bianca was included, so it was like a half compliment. It wasn't even you that was adorable, it was the picture." Beck explained. "Bianca's looks really cute."

Jade rolled her eyes and started walking to the water, "I'm walking away now."

"Hey don't leave me!"

"Come on."

Beck caught up the Jade who was nearing the shore. Bianca looked like she was itching to get out of her mother's arms and near the water. He laughed, "Someone is impatient."

"I can see." Jade turned to Beck. "You have your phone?"

Beck held it out for Jade to see, "Yes."

"Good. I want a picture of her reaction to the water."

"I'm ready when you are, babe."

"Ready munchkin?" Jade gently put Bianca down in front of her, making sure to have a firm hold on the baby. Water came up and washed over Bianca's feet, eliciting a squeal from her. She excitedly kicked her feet around for a few seconds before stopping. "Beck did you get that?"

"Yup. I videotaped it."

"I want you to transfer it to your computer as soon as you get home."

"Yes ma'am."

Jade sat at Bianca's feet to get a better hold on her. "It's just like bath time only it's better."

The baby seemed to agree. She bent down to stick her hands in the water as well. She laughed and hit the wet sand.

"Bianca be careful." Jade warned. "I don't want you to fall over." Bianca turned around and affectionately touched her mother's face, getting sand all over Jade's lips and chin.

"Aw." Beck cooed, snapping a picture of Jade's face. "Do it again, Bianca."

"Beck, be quiet." Jade wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand. "And don't you dare take another picture of me."

"But you wanted pictures."

"One more bad picture of me, and your phone will be at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Beck slid his phone into his pocket, "Fine." He walked further in the ocean. "Why don't you come on a little further?"

"I'm fine right here."

"Come on. The water feels great. Not too cold."

"No thank you."

"You know you want to."

Jade sighed and stood. She pulled her dress over her head, revealing her black bikini. "Daddy is so persistent sometimes. It can be annoying." She picked Bianca up again and stepped further into the ocean, until the water was up to her knees. "Happy now?"

"Ecstatic." Beck deadpanned. He splashed Jade with water.

"Beck! I am not wearing waterproof makeup."

"Why not? You knew where we were going."

"Because I didn't plan on coming this far into the ocean. I thought I would just get my feet wet, and let Bianca splash around a little bit."

"Oh." Beck splashed Jade again, this time getting water on Bianca, who flailed her arms in front of her face.

"Stop it!"

"Stop what?" Beck splashed her again. "I'm not doing anything."

"I'm getting out of here before my eyeliner and mascara start running and I look like a wet cat."

"You're no fun."

"Well you're too much fun for us Beck Oliver." Jade started to trudge out of the water when Beck called her name.

"Jade! Wait. I'm sor-" He was cut off by Jade splashing him back. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and fixed them onto Jade. "You want a war?"

"Nope. I just wanted to get even."

Beck started after Jade, who tried to run out of the water as fast as she could, which was hard considering the circumstances. When she made it back onto the sand, she turned around and saw Beck nearing.

"You can't touch me. I have a baby in my arms."

"You gonna use our daughter as a shield?"

"Yeah, I am."

Beck reached out and tugged on Jade's arm, bringing her closer to him. He gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. Bianca gurgled. "You want a kiss too?"

Beck and Jade both leaned down and kissed Bianca's cheeks.

They didn't even notice the paparazzi taking pictures of them.

* * *

One week later, Tori and Trina were walking around a grocery store, a cart full of food in front of them.

"Why did I have to come grocery shopping with you?" Trina groaned. "I'm so bored."

"You didn't have anything better to do."

"I could be at home right now, exfoliating and moisturizing my skin."

"Sorry I'm taking time out of your daily face routine."

"You tricked me. I thought were going to go shopping."

"We are shopping." Tori pointed out.

Trina rolled her eyes, "Not the good kind. I was expecting shoes and clothes and purses."

Tori grabbed a bottled water out of her bag and twisted the cap off. She took a sip. "We're almost done. We just have to get," she looked down at the list she had, "potato chips. I'll be back, go get in a line."

"Fine." Trina pushed the cart into the first line she could find.

She scanned the shelves looking at the various candies and other small snack items. She turned around and looked at the magazines. "All of these are bor-" One particular magazine caught her eye. "Uh oh."

Trina tried to turn around and get out of line, but it was hard because there were people behind her.

"Trina!" Tori exclaimed. "What are you doing?

"Lets get in a new line."

"No, you're already here. That's stupid."

"I don't like this line. The lighting is awful."

Tori rolled her eyes and pushed past the people to get to her sister. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Trina moved her body to cover the magazine rack. "I'm fine. These magazines are fine."

"Move."

"No."

"Move!" Tori pushed Trina over to get a look at whatever magazine Trina was hiding.

Her eyes widened in shock and she let out a scream.

A picture of Beck and Jade kissing was on the front cover.

* * *

**Hello! I didn't plan on updating this so early but I did. I like how everyone is excited to see Tori's complete meltdown over the situation. Her plan will come out in a chapter or two. And I would just like to say thank you to all of the people who review, favorite, and subscribe. You guys are the sweetest and I love you!**


	16. Chapter 16

"Life is too short to dwell in the negativity all the time."  
― Michelle M. Pillow

/

"Beck, I really don't want to be around all of your family right now." Jade complained, resting her head on her hand. "Do we really have to go?"

Beck, Jade and Bianca were in Beck's car, driving to his mother's house. Jade felt like this was more of a hostage situation considering she didn't

"Yes, we do. It's my grandmother's 69th birthday."

"Do I have to go?" Jade asked.

"Yes, you do."

"Why couldn't you and Bianca just go without me?"

"I thought you liked my grandmother."

"Oh I love your grandmother." Beck's grandmother, Cheryl and Jade had a pretty good relationship when she and Beck were teens and were dating. They shared the same wit and wicked sense of humor. It was something of an enigma to the rest of Beck's family how the two could get along so well. "It's the rest of your family that I'm not to keen on being around. Except your parents. I can handle your parents. But your aunts and uncles and cousins? No thank you. And they don't like me either, so-"

"Jade, we're together. You're all going to have to learn how to get along. For my sake and Bianca's sake."

Jade turned around and looked at the back seat. From the mirror on the seat, she could she that Bianca was sound asleep.

"Okay. But only because of my daughter."

Beck took one hand off of the steering wheel and grabbed Jades. He rubbed her knuckles with his thumb. "You're doing it because of me as well."

"No, I'm not."

"You are." Beck insisted. Jade simply rolled her eyes in reply.

"So did Rayna chew you out for not telling her about us?"

"Yup."

Jade smiled. The thought of an irritated and flustered Rayna made her pretty happy. "Yay."

"She hates when I don't tell her things, and I've kind of been doing that recently. She's always saying, "Beck, as your manager and publicist, you and I need to have an open line of communication."

"Well considering the amount of scandal swirling around your life Mr. Oliver, I'd be mad at you too."

"She just thinks that since Tori obviously has the sympathy card, I keep making myself look bad. And being with you-"

"-isn't helping your image." Jade finished with a sigh. "Getting back together with the home wrecker isn't exactly worthy of America's approval."

"But it doesn't matter. I made the right decision and I have no regrets." Beck raised Jade's hand and kissed it.

"You're sweet."

"I am."

* * *

"Mom!" Beck called out, trying to maneuver through the various family members and family friends currently in his parent's house. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen."

Beck walked into the kitchen, practically having to drag Jade along with him. "Jade, stop it!"

"Don't tell me what to do."

"You said you'd behave!" Beck hissed.

"I am behaving."

Beck ignored Jade and redirected his focus onto his mother, who was putting something in the oven. "Hi mom."

"Hi sweetheart." Pam greeted, wrapping her arms around her son. She turned to Jade. "Hi Jade."

"Hi Pamela."

Bianca was in Jade's arms, her head buried in the crook of her mother's neck. Jade was rubbing soothing circles on her back.

Pam reached out and touched Bianca's hand, "Hi gorgeous!"

"She's tired." Jade said. "Can I go put her down?"

"Of course."

Jade quickly exited the kitchen with Bianca, leaving Beck with his mother.

Beck awkwardly put his hands in his pants pocket. He knew his mom was upset with him. Not because of the fact that he was with Jade, but because she found out through a magazine like the rest of the world. He knew this because she called him at midnight a few days ago and yelled at him.

"So where's grandma?"

"She is in the backyard."

"Great. In gonna go see her."

"Beck." Pam called, before her son could get away from her.

Beck silently scolded himself for not getting away quick enough. He turned around, "Yes?"

"Can you please let me know the next time you have big news? I don't enjoy going to the supermarket and seeing my son and his new, old girlfriend kissing on the cover of a magazine."

Beck leaned over and gave his mother a peck on the cheek. "Yes ma'am."

Beck walks towards the sliding glass door that leads to the backyard. There was a ton of people. It seemed like all of his mother's family showed up.

He made it outside and spotted his grandmother. She was sitting in a chair, talking to one of his aunts. She must have spotted him as he got closer because she turned in his direction and smiled.

"Beck!"

"Hey, birthday girl."

Cheryl stood and held her arms out for a hug. Beck obliged. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?"

"I'm good. How are feeling?"

"I'm feeling great! It's your aunts and uncle that are treating me like I am senile."

Beck's aunt, Martha, rolled her eyes, "She is just upset because we all thought it'd be a bad idea to go sky diving."

"If I don't do it now, I'll never get to."

"Maybe one day, I'll take you."

Cheryl's face lit up, "This is why I love my grandchildren. They keep me young."

Jade walked up beside Beck a few moments later, a baby monitor in hand. "Bianca was so fussy. She didn't want to go back to sleep, but I got her down."

"Good."

Cheryl frowned, "Aw, I wanted to see that cutie pie." She sighed. "I guess I'll see her later."

"Happy birthday Cheryl." Jade said.

Cheryl pulled Jade into a tight squeeze. "Talk about a lovely surprise. Darling, I have not seen you in ages."

Jade nodded, "Yeah it's been 8 years."

Cheryl pulled back from Jade and gave Beck a pointed look, "8 years is way too long to make the right choice."

Martha sighed. She didn't share her mother's opinion of the younger woman. But she'd have to put up with the woman, at least for the next 18 years for Bianca's well being. "Hello Jade, long time no see."

"Martha." Jade replied, forcing a smile. "You look...well."

"As do you. Your hair is lighter."

"Yeah, it is. I got rid of the black hair dye."

"Oh okay."

Jade shifted her weight from one side to the other. This was awkward and the tension was pretty thick. She suddenly wanted Bianca to wake up and cry so she could leave.

Before she could make up some lame excuse to leave, two of Beck's cousins, Bella and Tracy, walked over to the group. _Oh God_, Jade thought, _not these two._

"Jade's here." Tracy remarked. "I thought she was just dropping Bianca off."

Jade rolled her eyes at Tracy. It was obvious that she didn't like her, considering she wouldn't even acknowledge her presence.

"Nope." Beck put his arm around Jade's waist. "She's staying."

"Hi to you too, Tracy. Always a pleasure."

"Likewise."

"So what were you two doing before you walked over here?" Martha asked her daughters, trying to cut the tension.

"I was on the phone, making lunch plans for tomorrow."

"With?"

"Tori." Tracy answered, looking at Jade.

Jade wanted to strangle her. That was just blatant disrespect. _Play nice, Jade. Be the bigger person._

Beck, who felt Jade tense up immediately, squeezed Jade's shoulder. He kissed the top of her head, sending her a silent signal. "Why don't we go say hi to someone else, babe."

"Great idea."

Once the two were gone and out of earshot, Cheryl pinched Tracy's arm.

"Ow! Grandma, what was that for?"

"That wasn't nice and you know it."

Tracy shrugged, "Neither is Jade and you know that, too."

* * *

"How on earth did you rope me into this, Oliver?" Jade asked, glaring at her boyfriend as he sat down on the couch next to her, a now woke Bianca in his arms. "This has to be the most awkward birthday party that I have ever been to."

"It's not that bad."

"Stop lying."

"You seem to be extremely popular with my little cousins." Beck offered, trying to find something positive in the day that he and Jade are going through.

Beck had a point. Jade was popular with the little kids. By some miracle, they got her to sing for them. She even got in the bouncy house that was set up in the backyard. Maybe Beck was right when he said that she had become a softy since having Bianca.

"They are the only people besides your grandmother who like me."

"That's not true."

"Oh really?"

"I like you." Beck wrapped his arm around Jade who instantly leaned into him. Bianca mimicked her mother and leaned into Beck too. "And so does Bianca."

Jade shook her head, "You guys don't count."

"Why not?"

"Because you and I are together, and Bianca is my daughter, so by default, you like me.

"Well, my little cousin Tucker has had his eyes on you since we got here." Beck added. "Does he count?"

"I'll let him count. Even though he's a 14 year old boy."

"My grandmother counts."

"That's true." Jade scanned the room in front of her, trying to find Beck's grandmother. She found her sitting in a chair, eating what looked like her second piece of birthday cake.

"My mom is trying. Can we count her?"

"Yeah."

"And my dad."

"And your dad."

Beck sighed, "Yeah, I can't think of anyone else, but it doesn't matter. Their opinions don't matter."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Across the room, Beck's mother, aunt and a few of his cousins were sitting around a table, observing the couple. They were now holding hands, tangled up in each other, laughing at something Bianca just did. They were so engrossed and entangled in each other, until it was hard to tell where Jade ended and Beck began.

"It's like déjà vu, right Pam?" Martha said. "Seeing those two together."

"Oh yeah. It's like, despite their 8 year hiatus, they haven't missed a beat. It's like they're two PDA obsessed, 16 year olds again."

Tracy shook her head, "Why did he go back to Jade? That woman is nothing short of misery personified."

"He and Jade always had an intense relationship." Pam said. "It was like watching two adults trapped inside the bodies of teenagers. They love each other."

"Yeah, but Beck would always call me and complain about Jade."

Pam shrugged, "Jade has grown up, and so has Beck. And they seem happy, and my granddaughter seems happy. That's all that matters."

"I'm just saying, he should've stayed with Tori. She's a nice girl, and they were a lovely couple."

"They were a nice couple." Martha agreed. "But I have heard some of the nasty things she's been saying about Bianca. Those weren't nice."

"Yeah but-"

"Why are you being such a downer?" Tucker cut in, shoving his cousin. "Jade is awesome."

"Tucker, what's awesome about her?"

"You mean besides the indisputable fact that she is insanely gorgeous?"

"Yes, besides that."

"She's also hilarious. And she's really cool. How many 28 year olds do you know that will bouncy house with a bunch of little kids? You don't do stuff like that, Trace." Tucker explained.

"Okay, you were a little kid the last time you saw Jade, so maybe you don't remember how awful she is."

"Why are you being so petty? That was forever and a day ago. You're acting like you were in the relationship with Beck."

"I just don't want my cousin to get hurt by this girl again."

"My son is an adult." Pam pointed out, looking at the couple play with their daughter. "He knows what he wants, and if its Jade, it's Jade. My son looks the happiest I have seen him in a few months, and I think Jade and Bianca are the cause of it. I can't hate the girl."

* * *

Tori entered the quiet little bistro in Beverly Hills that she picked to have lunch at. She quickly looked around the restaurant trying to spot her dates for the day. She walked over to the table and plopped down across from Tracy and Bella.

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Hey. What's up?"

"I just got out of a meeting with my manager and my publicist. We're trying to salvage and revamp my image because its hasn't been too good lately."

"Oh yeah. All of your endorsements were dropping you."

"Do you know why?"

Tracy shook her head, "No."

"Jade West."

"Jade? What did she do?"

"It doesn't hurt when your father owns the law firm that represents a few Fortune 500 companies. He made a few calls and I was out."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"That's a little...extreme, don't you think?"

"I do, but Jade has never liked me. Since my first day at Hollywood Arts, I've had a target on my back."

"So you two have been at it since you were 16?"

Tori nodded, "Yeah."

"That's too long a time to hold a grudge."

"I agree,"

"Beck used to tell me all the time that Jade was this jealous, possessive, argumentative person. I thought he'd be relieved when they broke up, but he has a child with her. Then he gets back together with her. I don't understand guys."

"Me either."

"And I don't understand Jade."

"What about her?"

"Like, why she kept Bianca in New York away from her family for 6 months.."

"That was weird." Bella agreed, but she shrugged. "But I'm sure she had her reasons."

"Bella, you're always giving people the benefit of the doubt."

"Because you don't, Tracy." Bella shot back, looking over the menu in her hands. She didn't have a problem with Jade and didn't know why her sister did. "You're too judgmental."

"If I am, it's because the person deserves it."

"But what does Jade owe you?" Bella questioned, turning to her sister. "You aren't Beck."

"But still. You want to know what's really weird about this whole thing?."

Tori took a sip of her water, "What?"

"Jade is gone in New York for 8 years. She comes back and had some random one night stand with Beck and then is back in New York a day later. Then she comes back with a baby, says she's Beck's and everyone drops the subject. That's weird to me."

Tori, not wanting to jump to any conclusions with the direction of where the conversation was going, had to ask, "Tracy, what are you saying?"

"Beck just believed Bianca was his daughter. No paternity test or anything." Tracy explained.

"So you're saying Bianca isn't Beck's daughter?"

"Trace, that's a heavy accusation."

"Trust me, I'm not the only one in out family who thought about it. Stop being so naive, Bella."

"I'm not naive."

"And," Tracy continued, "why doesn't Bianca have Beck's last name?"

"Now you're nitpicking."

"I'm just curious as to why they haven't changed it yet."

"You are looking for problems that don't exist.

While the two siblings bickered, Tori sat back and thought to herself. She knew a personal attack on Jade wouldn't work. She needed to hit her where it hurt the most: Bianca. And what Tracy was saying would do it. It didn't need to be the truth. She just needed to plant that tiny seed of doubt. A tiny crack. Beck and Jade would eventually implode on their own.

She stood up, "Guys, I just remembered something."

"What?"

"I have a meeting to go to. I'm supposed to be endorsing this new perfume and I need to look over contracts and al that good stuff." Tori lied.

"Oh."

"Can we reschedule?"

"Of course."

Tori smiled, "Great! I'll see you guys later."

Tori turned around and smirked to herself. She had some serious work to do.

* * *

A few days later, Jade was taken out of her sleep by her phone ringing. The first few times it rang, she ignored it, but by the third time, she had to get it before Beck woke up in a horrible mood. He wasn't much of a morning person either.

She groaned as she reached over to her bedside table to grab her cell phone. André's picture popped up. She checked the time on her phone. 5:37 AM. André was in New York for the week so it was 8:37 over there.

"André, do you realize what time it is, Pacific time?" Jade asked, skipping pleasantries. "The sun is barely shining out here in Los Angeles."

"Jade, is there anything that you need to tell me?"

Beck rolled over and slung his arm over Jade's midsection. She was too tired to even fully comprehend what André was saying.

"What?"

"Is there something that you haven't told me?"

Jade covered her mouth, trying to hold in a yawn, "André what are you talking about? You're not making sense. I tell you everything."

"So, I will always be the first to know if you had huge news right?"

"Yes. You're my best friend."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. What is this about?"

"I just saw something and it got me thinking."

"Well? Spit it out?"

"Is there a possibility, and I mean even the slightest possibility, that Beck isn't Bianca's father?"

"WHAT?"

That shriek of terror definitely got Beck's attention. He jumped up, startled at the noise.

"Jade! What the hell is going on?


End file.
